Office of the Prime Minister

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The Jamaica Local Organising Committee (LOC) for the Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007 is reporting an increase in interest for tickets in the wake of the West Indies thrilling victory against world champions, Australia, on October 18 at the ICC Champions Trophy in India.

Roxanne Morris, LOC Commercial Manager, told JIS News that following the match, persons have been enquiring about purchasing tickets offered under Jamaica's Yellow Package.

"There was one particular person and you could just hear the disappointment in her voice. She said that she could not believe she had waited so long because she wanted tickets for a particular match and they were just not available," she said.

As it stands now, ticket sales for the matches have been moving steadily. "We are a last minute people, so we anticipate that as the end of the second phase approaches, I am sure we are going to see increased demand for tickets," Ms. Morris predicted.

Singling out the Pakistan versus Ireland match on March 17, St. Patrick's Day, which is a popular Irish holiday in the United States, Ms. Morris said there was "a lot of excitement" surrounding that match.

"The Irish are coming. We have been getting calls from them and a contingent from the Jamaica LOC, the Jamaica Tourist Board and Air Jamaica will be embarking on a tour this weekend to Ireland, as well as the United Kingdom and India," Ms. Morris disclosed.

"The whole party vibe around that match is tremendous and a lot of activities are being planned for that day," she added.

She also attributed the increased interest to efforts to take cricket to the people through the 'Cricket Under the Tent' initiative. "We were in Port Royal recently; we have been at the Social Development Commission (SDC) National Cricket Community Competition and many other places," she informed.

In the meantime, Ms. Morris said tickets for the ICC CWC 2007 were being sold on a first come, first served basis under the second phase of the ticketing programme, which ends on November 30.

Additionally, the number of tickets, which an individual can purchase, has been increased. "The ticketing allocation; they have been increased so you can now get 14 tickets for the warm-up matches. An individual can get 14 tickets and his or her spouse can get another 14 so that is 28 persons per household," she pointed out.

For the group stage matches, persons can purchase up to 10 tickets, so one household can purchase up to 20 tickets, while for the super eight stage, which will be played outside of Jamaica, persons can get up to eight tickets depending on availability at this time.

The allotment for semi-finals ticket is unchanged at four. "Most of those seats are not available right now," Ms. Morris revealed. She noted however, that there were other options for those seeking tickets for matches sold out under the public ticketing programme. "We have tickets available under hospitality packages. There is the suite package that are the former boxes at Sabina Park and we have some of them available," she noted.

She added that, "we have suites with the capacity of 10, 16 and 19, but they must be purchased in their entirety and that entitles you to see all seven matches at the ground. There are other hospitality packages such as the grandstand enclosure and we do have tickets or seats available for matches".

Under the Yellow Package, Jamaica will host four warm up matches, which will be held at the newly constructed Trelawny multi-purpose stadium from
March 5 to 9 next year. The opening ceremony for the tournament, scheduled for March 11, will also be held at this venue.

Jamaica will also host six first-round matches, including the opening match of the tournament at Sabina Park on March 13, which will pit the West Indies against Pakistan. In addition, Jamaica will host a semi-final match on April 24.

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