By Yiming Woo and Clotaire Achi
PARIS (Reuters) – Parisians are the main buyers of tickets for the Paralympic Games, organisers said, rushing to grab a second opportunity to see competitions in some of the Games’ spectacular venues, after many chose to snub the Olympics or missed out on tickets.
In July, Parisians had left the city in droves ahead of the Olympics, with entire neighbourhoods turned eerily quiet as residents decamped as they feared the disturbance and traffic problems many thought the Games would bring.
But the Games turned out to be a global success. The Paralympics will allow them to see Olympic sports in the same venues, including at the feet of the Eiffel Tower or in the gardens of the Versailles castle outside Paris.
Organisers said that of the more than 1.75 million tickets already sold ahead of the Aug. 28 start of the Paralympics, 92% came from French buyers, with buyers from the Ile-de-France region around Paris taking the lion’s share of 73%.
Parisian Mathieu Bucella is set to boost these numbers a little further.
“I’m seriously thinking about it because I’m a bit annoyed that I didn’t think of getting tickets for the (Olympic) Games, so this is my second chance,” he said.
Organisers said several sessions were nearly sold out already, notably wheelchair fencing and para taekwondo in Grand Palais, para track cycling in Saint Quentin, para equestrian in Chateau de Versailles and blind football at Champ de Mars.
“We were watching the Olympic Games on TV, but after that you get that gut feeling that you want to come and see everything with your own eyes,” Mexican tourist Arlet Haro said.
U.S. tourist Asad Rahman said he was glad to have come to Paris for the Paralympics.
“Things are a little bit more open than what we heard with the Olympics, where they closed off some areas. So it works out, as a tourist,” he said by the Eiffel Tower, where workers were converting the beach volleyball pitch into a blind football pitch.
Heavy security during the Olympics made movement across the city center difficult as many key thoroughfares were blocked.
The Paralympics will run until Sept.8.
(Reporting by Yiming Woo and Clotaire Achi, writing by Geert De Clercq, editing by Ingrid Melander and Michael Perry)
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