The World Cup wasn't just a disaster on the field for China, which lost all three of its matches, but off the field as well, according to local travel agencies, who are disappointed at the small number of people who travelled to South Korea to support the country's first appearance in the tournament.
According to the Shanghai Tourism Administrative Commission, an over-whelming majority of the city's tens of millions of soccer fans watched the games on TV instead of paying big bucks to see the games live.
Only 1,600 fans in the city singed up with local travel agencies to travel all the way to South Korea to watch the games.
Travel agencies say the whole event was a letdown as they had to reduce prices just to attract the small number of fans who made the trip, cutting profit margins to the bone.
According to an official with the China Youth Travel Service, one of the three major agencies involved in the business, the company only earned 200 to 300 yuan per trip.
"We are doing this business strictly for patriotic reasons," said Jiang Weihao with the Shanghai Spring International Travel Service Co. "There's not much to earn at all."
Prior to the beginning of the monthlong World Cup tournament that began May 31, Soo-Hyun Lee, a key official with the South Korean World Cup organizing committee, estimated that 60,000 to 70,000 Chinese soccer fans would travel to South Korean, where China was scheduled to play its first three games.
The overall number of Chinese tourists who made the journey is not yet available, but Shanghai's performance obviously fell short of expectations.
"It is mainly because of skyrocketing charges. The price kept local soccer fans away," said Yang Fan with the tourism commission.
"Deterred by the high price, many who had registered withdrew their request at the last minute."
Spring International was the first local travel agency to announce it had secured 1,000 tickets form the China Football Association, at a time when an army of soccer fans in town were eager for the tickets.
Their eagerness subsided after the agency announced it would charge more than 11,000 yuan (US$1,325) for a five-day package tour in March. The package included a ticket for one game with a face value of US$60.
The normal cost for a five-day package tour is some 3,000 yuan.
When fans made it clear they weren't happy with the exorbitant fees, the agency decreased the price to 7,800 yuan. It even began to offer a two-day package tour at 5,900 yuan in May, but fewer than 600 locals registered.
"We tried every means to obtain 300 tickets from the football association, but we had to return them all in May as few locals registered," said Chen Suiqin with the Shanghai China Travel Service Co.
Local agencies say they had no choice but to raise prices as the costs of accommodations, plane tickets, and food in Korea were being increased during the tournament.
"It is our South Korean counterparts that earned the money," said Jiang. "Everything is much more expensive."
Some fans were also turned off by the tours, which included plenty of sight-seeing and shop-ping, but not enough of the exciting World Cup games.
(eastday.com June 21, 2002)
