Rugby World Cup: Prices turn Aussie fans off Cup

A Wallabies fan shows his support during a Bledisloe Cup match in Sydney last year. Photo / Getty Images

Expensive tickets and overpriced accommodation are deterring Australians from snapping up tickets for the Rugby World Cup across the ditch, travel agents have warned.

Total Sports Travel, an official agent for the Cup, said sales had been "less than ideal", with general manager Mike Jones saying there had been "plenty to put people off this year".

While sales started off well, they slowed dramatically over summer. Jones said he believed the Queensland floods were a significant deterrent and the Christchurch earthquake on February 22 "certainly didn't help".

"I think the disasters we've been having have made people wary and keen just to stay close to home," he said yesterday.

"In Queensland, there are a lot of people who have lost crops, who are trying to sort out their situations, and getting tickets for games they would usually be going to hasn't been a priority."

Jones said the global financial crisis had cooled off demand. High ticket prices and expensive accommodation were also factors, he said.

He said some hotels were charging up to five times more than their normal rate. "Australians like to think of New Zealand as a cheap destination, and usually it is but, as is usually the case in these situations, the prices of hotels are well up and the price of tickets are up, too. Trying to explain all this to people is really difficult."

Jones said he held out hope there would be a late run on sales. "We think of New Zealand as just across the ditch, a domestic market really, so we believe there will be a lot of late bookings," he said.

About 85,000 international visitors are expected for the Cup, 29,000 from Australia.

World Cup spokesman Shane Harmon was unconcerned, saying Australia was a short-haul market, and many travellers did not plan trips to New Zealand far in advance.

- AAP