The new ticketing strategy adopted by the organizers at the 2019 Shanghai Tennis Masters has paid off – there has been a 20 per cent rise in attendances.
The 11th edition of the event held at the Qizhong Tennis Centre at Shanghai in China was attended by 150,000 spectators. To increase attendance, organizers introduced new ticket-vending mechanism and separate day and night session tickets were introduced.
Explained Yang Yibin, Vice-General Manager of event organizer Juss Sports Group, “The mechanism has proved to be a success. Day-session tickets sold well than what we expected, and the total ticket receipts saw a 30 per cent increase from last year.”
“Those who were only able to make it to the evening matches could get a night-session ticket at a cheaper price than a whole-day ticket, while day-session tickets went into the hands of those who could make it. The increase in audience numbers obviously benefits our sponsors as well.”
The event held from October 6 to 13 carries the distinction of being Asia’s only ATP Masters 1000 tournament.
The organizers felt that the tournament was no longer fully dependent on the success of stars like Roger Federer who, as per Yang, “has always been a ticket box guarantee in China” and added, “we have cultivated a mature fan base.”
“A lot of fans would arrange their time according to our schedule and book tickets early no matter who they would see. They have shown recognition for the tournament and the sport itself,” he added.
Twenty per cent of attending fans this year was from outside Shanghai, and half of these were from overseas.
Yang remarked, “We have also been inviting journalists from Europe, Singapore, and some South East Asian countries that we value as important tennis markets for Shanghai so as to increase the influence of our tournament.”
“The Shanghai event has also become a model for domestic tennis tournament organizers, who send their representatives to learn from us,” he concluded.
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