French biggest buyers of Olympic tickets, followed by UK and US
The Paris 2024 Games have also sold the most tickets for any Olympics, ever - with seats for the Paralympics also selling fast
9.4 million Olympics tickets have been bought in total, of which 61% were bought in France
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Almost 10 million tickets have been sold for the Olympics in Paris, figures show, with those in France having bought the most, followed by people from the UK then the US.
Of the 9.4 million bought in total:
Of thee international purchases:
The number of tickets sold in total beat the record. This had previously been held by the Atlanta 1996 Games, when 8.3 million were sold.
The Tokyo 2020/2021 Games were disrupted by Covid, and held with just 50% spectator capacity, with only local people allowed, to a maximum of 10,000.
In the past decades, spectator numbers for the Games have soared, and grown almost every year.
London 2012: 2.7 million sold
Beijing 2008: 1.8 million
Athens 2004: 0.85 million
Sydney 2000: 1.2 million
Which sports events did people in France buy tickets for?
Ticket sales suggest that people in France have their favourite (and least favourite) sports and events.
For example:
86% of the places for the mountain bike events were bought in France.
80% of tickets for the taekwondo events were bought in France. Similar numbers bought tickets for judo and wrestling.
65% of tickets for athletics and rugby 7s were bought in France.
Only 43% of the tickets for the Opening Ceremony on July 26 were bought in France (19% of tickets for the Opening Ceremony were bought in the United States).
Only 40% of tickets for the cycling events were bought by those in France; these events were instead more popular among people from the UK and the Netherlands.
The volleyball tickets were most popular amongst those from Brazil.
The table tennis event tickets were mainly bought by those from China.
Where did people in France come from to watch the Games?
Perhaps unsurprisingly, data collected six months before the start of the Games showed that more than a quarter of ticket buyers in France lived in Paris.
However, even for events not held in Paris, Île-de-France residents showed that they were willing to travel.
For the Marseille sailing events, 29% of buyers were from the Paris region (however almost as many came from the PACA region).
In Lille, for basketball and handball, 28.7% of ticket holders were from the Paris region, compared with 22.2% from the Hauts-de-France.
How old were ticket buyers?
Younger people were overrepresented. By January, figures showed that almost a third of ticket buyers were aged between 25 and 34, with boxing and climbing their favourite events.
After this, the 35-44 age group were most likely to have bought a ticket, followed by the 45-54 age group (20%). The over-65s bought just 4% of the tickets.
The Closing Ceremony for the Olympics (ahead of the start of the Paralympics) is set to take place at the Stade de France on August 11, and the majority of tickets have been sold. Those that remain are available start from €600.
More than a million Paralympics tickets remain…but are selling fast
Anyone who struggled to get tickets for the Olympics may still get lucky for the Paralympics, as more than a million tickets remain for the events, which begin on August 28 (and will last until September 8).
More than 4,400 athletes from 182 different nations are set to compete in 23 disciplines and 549 Paralympic sporting events. And unlike the Olympics, the vast majority of the events will take place almost entirely in Paris and surrounds. Only the shooting will be held elsewhere (in Châteauroux, Indre, Centre-Val de Loire).
It seems that people’s interest has been piqued by the Olympics, with tickets for the Paras now selling fast.
“We are now selling five times’ more tickets every day for the Paralympic Games than we did before the Olympic Games," said Michael Aloïsio, deputy CEO of Paris 2024, to Ouest-France. “We have sold over 1.2 million tickets for the Paralympic Games, out of the 2.8 million available. We know that things are going to speed up again right up until the start. A lot of French people do not want the party to stop.”
Some sports, including the triathlon, wheelchair fencing, taekwondo and equestrianism, have already sold out.
But there are still some tickets, starting at €15 each, available for the Paralympic badminton, swimming, table tennis, seated volleyball, wheelchair basketball, and wheelchair rugby events.
“Some 100,000 tickets at €15 and more than 300,000 at €25 are still on sale,” said the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games (Cojop) to Le Monde.
There are also Discovery Passes available. These allow visitors to attend several Para sports sessions on the same day for €24. Some events still have the most expensive tickets, which are sold at €100, for "exceptional sessions and the best seats", Cojop said.
Those wanting to attend the Paralympics Opening Ceremony in Place de la Concorde will have to pay a little more; as of Thursday August 8, there were not any tickets left for under €450. Similarly, for the closing event at Stade de France in Saint-Denis, on September 8, tickets left start from €250.
