Lexington, Ky. - A shaky economy appears to influencing lagging ticket sales for early competitions in the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games at the Kentucky Horse Park. With just over two months to go before the opening ceremonies, ticketing for certain competitions will go on sale at a 30-percent discount beginning tomorrow.
"We have been talking for several weeks now with horse show promoters or organizers around the country and world. We've also looked at the World Cup, the World Youth Games and we've talked with the tourism and travel industries, and what we've found across the board is that people are waiting later and later to make their reservations or purchase their tickets," said World Games Foundation CEO Jamie Link. "People are holding onto their money longer because of the economic uncertainties. We're hearing that where people were making their decisions a month or two in advance, they're now making them a week or two in advance."
Only early session tickets in the competitions listed and tickets for Endurance are offered at the special rate.
No other tickets are included in the offer and there will be no refunds for previously purchased tickets.
"Certainly there will be people that will be disappointed that they paid a certain price and we respect and appreciate that," Link said. "However, those people that purchased early did have the prime pick of seats. They were able to pick seats that were to their liking, perhaps under cover, with seat backs versus bench seating. So we do think there was a value to that earlier purchase."
Select tickets for Dressage, Endurance, Eventing, Jumping and Reining competitions at the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games will be available in a limited time offer, starting at 10 a.m. EDT on July 15 through midnight on Labor Day weekend, ending on September 6.
Link emphasized that his organization is now in "need-to-know" mode as final plans are made to accommodate WEG crowds. "We're giving people ample time to make their decisions, but we're in the very final stages of our detailed planning and we need the data on a daily basis the number of people we're going to have to address food services, parking attendants, volunteers. We're now planning the daily expectation of the number of people we're going to have in order to have the resources available whether food or staff to assist them."
Business Lexington
reported yesterday that although presenting sponsor Alltech has booked the entire downtown Hilton Hotel and a portion of the Lexington Green Hilton for clients, staff and performing artists, plenty of hotel rooms remain available for the two-plus weeks of the 60-nation competition at the Kentucky Horse Park.
Lexington area hotel bookings for the period during the Games are averaging only 68 percent of capacity, according to World Games Foundation Event Manager Darlene Free. "The exception is the peak period between Sept. 30 and Oct. 2," Free said. During that 3-day mid-Games weekend, hotel reservations are now averaging 95 percent of capacity.
Many hotels that had been requiring 4-night minimum stays have dropped the requirement, said Free.
To view the promotional prices and purchase tickets, visit www.alltechfeigames.com/tickets, www.ticketmaster.com, call 1-888-934-2010, or visit your local Ticketmaster outlet.
For ticketing assistance and general information, call the Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games Information Center at 888-934-2010.