By Julien Pretot
PARIS (Reuters) - The Paris 2024 Paralympics are heading towards record tickets sale as the global event continues its growth 12 years after getting a huge boost in London, although challenges remain, organisers said on Friday.
They said more than 2.1 million tickets had been sold, with 500,000 still available and 300,000 in reserve.
A record 2.7 million were sold for London 2012, though International Paralympic Committee (IPC) spokesperson Craig Spence said Tokyo would have beaten that mark if it had not been for the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Yesterday alone, we sold 60,000 tickets," Paris 2024 spokesperson Anne Descamps told a press conference.
"We're almost sold out at venues like the Eiffel Tower, the Grand Palais and the Velodrome and we had to increase the capacity at the Chateau de Versailles (where the para equestrian competitions are held)," Paris 2024 general director Etienne Thobois said.
Tickets sales, however, were not the only factor to take into account for the success of the Paralympics, Spence said.
"I think if you look at the statistics here, we've had to cap the number of media attending for the first time ever, to 1,000," Spence said.
"We have more rights holders than ever before broadcasting these Games to record audiences so we are heading in the right direction."
World famous personalities, such as former Liverpool boss Juergen Klopp and movie superstar Jackie Chan, had drawn attention to the Paralympics by their presence in Paris, but some work needed to be done outside the Games window, Spence said.
"One thing we are very aware of at the IPC is that we don't want to be relevant to the media just every four years and it's really important that we build the journey and engage people in the world championships in our sports in-between the Games and continue to tell the stories there," he said.
"Obviously not everything is under our control because of the international federations (who organise the world championships) for our sports but it's important we build the profile of these events between the Games."
Spence added that media interest in the Games had sky-rocketed since London.
"The level of interest for the Paralympic Games is out of this world. Last Thursday we had over 600 media enquiries, in London we had I think 100 a day," he said.
"That's just the level of interest that we're seeing in the Games so I think we're heading in the right direction."
A notable mark, Spence added, was the proportion of tickets being sold outside of France.
According to Paris 2024 figures, 8% of the tickets have been bought abroad while the usual percentage is between three and five.
(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Clare Fallon)
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