Hundreds of tickets for Eurovision semi-finals remain unsold

Seats in the ‘VIP green room’ prove unpopular among local and international fans.

By AMY SPIRO
Eurovision 2019 (photo credit: Courtesy)
Eurovision 2019
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Hundreds of tickets for the Eurovision semi-finals in Tel Aviv this year were still available more than 48 hours after they went on sale.
KAN said that more than 180,000 people got in line to buy tickets for the Eurovision on Thursday when they went on sale, but either they were aiming only for the live grand finale, or they were merely curious.
Thousands of tickets to the grand finale on May 18 sold out on Thursday evening within two hours of going on sale. But on Saturday evening, hundreds of tickets were still left to the semi-finals as well as the rehearsals for all three of the shows. A second round of ticket sales is set to be held in April.
The “VIP green room” – the most expensive option and KAN’s attempt to boost the number of tickets available for sale – proved particularly unpopular.
There were hundreds of NIS 2,000 seats – which give fans the option of watching the action on huge screens alongside the contestants – still remaining for even the grand finale on Saturday night.
There were also thousands of tickets left on Saturday for the two rehearsals for the grand finale, which will be held on Friday evening and Saturday afternoon.
Some observers posited that the high ticket prices for the shows must have played a role in the low sale rate. Seats for the semi-finals range in price from NIS 750 to NIS 1,250.
“Remarkable amount of Eurovision tickets still left,” said Adrian Bradley, a BBC journalist. “No point pricing it high to recoup costs if no one actually wants to pay that price for the tickets.”
Rob Holley, a Eurovision correspondent for The Independent, echoed that sentiment.
“Woah. After the carnage yesterday, there are *hundreds* of tickets left for the semi-finals and green room/VIP bits and bobs,” he wrote. “All of which cost over £200... which might explain why. Eurovision fans have deep pockets... but Israel might just have discovered the exact depth.”