Steve Hart: World Cup runneth over with prices

COMMENT

You've got to wonder what's going on when New Zealanders are priced out of hopping across the Ditch to support the All Blacks in the World Cup.

Like the Sydney Olympics before it, tickets and travel to the event have been wrapped up in a bureaucracy of almost dinosaurian proportions - so much so that the average New Zealander didn't have much of a hope of getting to see a match without having some deep pockets or a friendly bank manager.

Prices for a match ticket, nine nights' accommodation and return flights to Sydney were being advertised at just shy of $7000. Who is really comfortable paying that? Well, the International Rugby Board (IRB) in Britain thought it was a fair price. Travel agents here knew better.

Then last week, with days to go before unsold tickets were due to be sent back to the IRB, some travel agents slashed their prices to reduce their losses.

Travel.co.nz cut the $7000 package to $4000 and within hours most of the packages it had on hand were sold out.

The company's Roger Hawkins said: "We signed up to a strict agreement with the IRB and spent a great deal of money upfront buying tickets and hotel rooms in good faith. We told the IRB the prices wouldn't run and we were proved right.

"A similar thing happened with the Sydney Olympics and we had hoped lessons would be learned."

So why the high-priced packages? Well, tickets were allocated to a small number of travel agents in New Zealand on certain conditions. They included which hotels could be used along with a minimum stay period and ticket-holders only being able to travel on a Qantas flight.

Most hotel prices are at the higher end, no doubt in a bid to squeeze every last cent out of supporters.

And unless you had an address in Australia, circumventing this process was difficult - and in fact would be unfair to all the travel companies here who were assured they would be the only place where New Zealanders could get tickets.

Hawkins said his company has lost money over the arrangement.

"We're not making any money. It's been a nightmare," he said.

Our travel agents are out of pocket, the masses were priced out of supporting their team and there are probably plenty of hotel managers in Australia scratching their heads and wondering why they have of empty rooms.

"I'd be pleased to see the back of it," was how Christian Casbolt of The Events Centre described the World Cup.

Commenting on the package prices, he said: "It doesn't sit well with Kiwis who just want to jump across the Ditch.

"After New Zealand lost hosting rights we were promised that packages would be affordable, but that didn't happen.

"New Zealanders voted with their feet and decided to stay at home - they are not happy and some lessons will have to be learned."

Despite reports that unsold tickets had to be returned to the IRB yesterday Casbolt says he is sure New Zealanders wanting tickets will be able to get them from companies such as his until all tickets are sold out.

Hawkins of Travel.co.nz said: "The biggest barrier to supporters wanting to see matches is the price of hotel accommodation. Getting a room is the biggest hurdle."

Chicken or fish?

Three words that confirm beyond any doubt that you are on an airplane.

And thanks to a survey of New Zealand air travellers, I now know I am in the majority when I put my hand up for chicken. It is probably popular because - as we know - if something doesn't taste of anything, it probably tastes of chicken.

Tucking in to our feathered friends, according to the survey by Flight Centre, is the most popular choice when it comes to airline food. It found that nearly half of all respondents prefer chicken, compared to 21 per cent who prefer beef.

Salad and fish are the least popular options, getting 12.8 and 11.2 per cent of votes respectively. Less than 5 per cent said they were happy to eat anything.

More than 600 people took part in the survey. Nearly 31 per cent of the blokes voted beef as their second choice, compared to just 16 per cent of women. Salad got a mere 6 per cent of the male votes compared to nearly 17 per cent of women.

Unfortunately, the survey didn't answer the ultimate question. Is there ever a time when chicken can be washed down with a glass of red wine?

Happy Birthday Lonely Planet

Thirty years ago, in October 1973, a little 96-page book called Across Asia on the Cheap appeared on bookshop shelves in Australia.

Tony and Maureen Wheeler wrote it after being asked so many questions about their travels. Their book was an instant favourite - the rest we know.

And in the Travel Herald every week we get a taste of the company's expertise when its team answers your questions. Questions have included such things as where to stay in Bangkok to what to see in Vietnam to where to go on holiday with a pet dog.

Congratulations Lonely Planet, many happy returns.