DESPITE the hefty price tag which will come with travelling to the English capital for next summer's Olympics, the Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) has already received two-times more requests for the approximately 1,600 tickets that it has been allocated for the 2012 London Games.
At yesterday's rate of exchange of $142.00 to £1, the estimated cost for a single individual to travel to London for two weeks during the Games to watch the athletic competition from August 3-11 while sitting in the cheapest seats at the Olympic Stadium would be just over half-a-million Jamaican dollars — approximately $503,284.
That figure includes airfare to London of $108,248; a hotel in nearby Greenwich for two weeks at £1,240 or J$176,080; tickets for the nine days of athletic competition watching the morning and afternoon sessions in D Class or E class seats — $80,940; ground transportation on the London Underground to and from the East London-based Olympic Stadium at £4 each way — $10,224; per diem of £50 per day — $99,400, and miscellaneous expenses approximating $28,400.
JOA vice-president, Don Anderson told the Observer those figures have not been much of a deterrent to persons requesting tickets for the Games.
"No one so far has said 'take me out'. What some people have said is 'get me better prices'," he said.
"People have told me they have been saving for this for years," Anderson told the Observer in an exclusive interview.
"People from all walks of life have indicated that they want to go and the thing about it is that nobody is going by themselves so when you look at that figure you can multiply it by two, and three, and four.
"Some people are carrying their kids and until the situation has changed, there are no special fares for children, so a two-year-old will have to pay for their seat," he added.
Anderson said that so far the association had been allotted between 1,600 and 1,700 track and field tickets, mainly in the B and C categories, but he was hoping to convince the International Olympic Committee (IOC) to allocate more so the local body would be able to meet the demand.
He added that tickets would not necessarily be sold on a first-come, first-served basis.
"We have some people who book tickets with us year after year after year and who smartly came to us first, and they will obviously be given the preference," he said.
"We are still pretty optimistic that we will get what we need," he added.
Though the JOA has been allotted its own set of tickets, international ticket sales for the Games opened on March 15 and individuals may make their private requests via a lottery system.
"You can go online, say exactly what you want and make a booking. People all over the world get put into that lottery and at a particular point in time they will open it, pull the numbers and people will get on the basis of what's available. (But) the National Olympic Committee gateway is still open until the end of May," Anderson said.
Meanwhile, Anderson was clear that Jamaicans living in Jamaica will only be able to request tickets through the local association. No National Olympic Committee is allowed to sell tickets to anyone living outside their own borders.
The 2012 London Olympic Games are considered special to Jamaicans. It will mark the first time the Games returns to the English capital since the first Jamaican participated at the Olympics in 1948.
In addition, 2012 will mark the 50th anniversary of Jamaica's independence from Great Britain.
There is also much hype surrounding Jamaica's track and field athletes and whether or not they will be able to repeat their record 11-medal haul from the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Double Olympic champion and record-holder Usain Bolt is considered the star attraction of the Games with prime seats in the Stadium on the day of the men's 100m final on August 5 carrying a price tag of £725 ($102,950).
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