Poor support for Euro 2012 tourism

　　The ongoing 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, or Euro 2012, has not triggered a boom in sport tourism as the 2010 FIFA World Cup did, said disappointed local travel agencies yesterday.

"Instead of paying big bucks to watch the games live in Eastern Europe, it seems the majority of the city's millions of football fans chose to watch on TV at home or in local bars," said a manager, surnamed Liu, from China Comfort Travel yesterday.

According to Liu, they had to cancel the specially designed trips to the joint host countries, Poland and Ukraine, before the games began due to a lack of interest.

"We planned the tourist packages three months earlier than for the South Africa World Cup, and those sold out in about a month. Our World Cup packages were priced around 40,000 yuan ($6,296) per person," said Liu.

A manager, surnamed Wu, head of the overseas tourism department of BTG International Travel and Tours, said his company also experienced a more significant rise in tourist numbers to South Africa in 2010.

"We got 160 tickets for Euro 2012, and there have been plenty of companies asking about prices and schedules," said Wu.

"However, the groups that actually registered for the tour have no comparison with the World Cup," he said.

An eight-day package in Poland and Ukraine including semi-final tickets is priced at about 60,000 yuan per person, Wu said.

"The World Cup might be the most well-known tournament, but the Euro Cup is better for many real fans to enjoy soccer. Of course we'd love to watch live, but the skyrocketing charges keep the local fans away," said Wang Zhishan, who is a loyal supporter of the German national team.

Liu believes the reason Euro 2012 has been a big letdown for the local market has something to do with the fact that Eastern European countries have never been a popular tourist destination for Chinese travelers.

"South Africa was already a popular destination before 2010, so there were sufficient flights between the countries and local travel agencies had good cooperation with the airlines and travel agencies there, so we could get better discounts on the tickets and flights," said Liu.

"However, in Poland and Ukraine, things are not like that. The price of a match ticket from the Polish sports agents has gone up to over 500 euros ($635), so the prices had to be raised," said Liu.

Hou Tao, director of Qunar Tourism Research College, agrees with Liu, but thinks the upcoming London Olympic Games, starting July 27, might be another reason that local residents were not drawn to go to Europe earlier.

"It's another excellent chance to travel in Europe and watch the games with more diversity in London. There must be a number of people preparing to go soon, which diverted the tourist flow away from Euro 2012," said Hou.

However, several local travel businesses still see a light at the end of the Euro tunnel, and plan to market post-championship trips to the region.

"Euro 2012 will definitely create a greater tourism image of those nations to Chinese tourists, and we're going to launch new packages for Eastern Europe, including visits to the stadiums holding the games," said a female manager, surnamed He, from U-tour Travel Agency.