JOHANNESBURG – Some 130,000 World Cup tickets have been sold in the first 36 hours of the final phase, and the semifinals and final are sold out.
FIFA announced Friday that 29 of the 64 matches are sold out. That includes all games in the coastal cities of Cape Town and Durban.
"We are very pleased with the interest and with the latest figures," FIFA ticketing subcommittee chairman Horst Schmidt said.
The opening game is also sold out between host South Africa and Mexico at Johannesburg's Soccer City stadium on June 11.
FIFA said tickets were still available for one quarterfinal and the third and fourth playoffs, as well as a selection of final 16 and group games.
Some less popular matches, like South Korea vs. Greece at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth and Paraguay vs. New Zealand in the northern city of Polokwane, are yet to sell out tickets in any of the four seat categories.
Ten matches still have unsold tickets in all four ticket categories, including the lowest priced one for locals. Another eight games have only sold out the cheapest tickets.
FIFA did not say how many tickets had been sold in each category, only that some were "available", some had "few tickets" and some were "unavailable."
Local organizers have said they will ensure that all World Cup games are full to avoid shots of empty seats on international broadcasts.
As a result, they may be forced to give away free tickets to schools or charities. That would have an impact on the economic benefit of the World Cup for the local committee, which is counting on much of its revenue from ticket sales.
The estimated $3.3 billion that the World Cup makes from commercial rights and marketing goes to FIFA.
FIFA and the local organizing committee have previously acknowledged worries over certain "low interest" games where tickets are not selling.
Foreign ticket sales, particularly in Europe, have also been disappointing. Fewer than 350,000 people are expected to travel to the country for Africa's first World Cup, down from initial estimates of 450,000.
The final ticket batch was released Thursday, and fans in South Africa could buy over the counter for the first time. However, there were technical problems with the ticketing systems.
Police were called to at least three centers to calm angry fans who faced lengthy delays.
Fans can make purchases at 11 ticket centers and a network of 600 bank branches. Supermarkets across South Africa will start selling World Cup tickets on Monday.
FIFA was criticized for waiting so long to simplify the process for local fans, who have low incomes and are unfamiliar with buying tickets on the Internet.
Organizers are looking to sell the final 500,000 of the 2.7 million total tickets during the latest phase.
Multigenerational trips can lead to more far-flung, active adventures
Multigenerational family trips can be a hit. This fishing trip in Alaska proved to be bountiful for the Hill family. Gregg Hill, from left; his wife, Pam; his 78-year-old mother, Pauline, and his 16-year-old grandson David show off their catch.
My nearly 3-year-old son Matt was methodically smashing coconuts on the stone terrace next to the pool of our rented villa in St. Martin early in the morning just under the window where my sister and brother-in-law — still kid-less — were trying to sleep. We thought it was hilarious; they weren't amused. My parents just wanted to enjoy the sunshine and the grandkids — Matt and his baby sister, Reggie.
That was the first of our many multigenerational vacations, all the more poignant because my dad died a few months later. Maybe that's why we still talk so much about that trip — the seafood feasts our housekeeper whipped up, seemingly effortlessly for us, the hours my dad, already ill, spent playing in the pool with the kids, the stellar snorkeling and gambling expeditions led my dad to a nearby casino, the bug bites that covered my 8-month-old daughter, and, of course, the Morning of the Coconuts.
At the time, it all seemed pretty exotic for our family. My mom had plucked a tiny ad from the New York Times and, sight unseen, (no Internet virtual tour in those days, no TripAdvisor reviews), had rented the place overlooking the ocean for two weeks. It wasn't quite what we expected, but that's another story.
What the gathering provided was unfettered time together to laugh and play and eat — time we didn't usually have because we lived thousands of miles apart. Today, more than 20 years later, grandparents and tour operators tell me, that's still what's driving other families like ours to corral their families on multigenerational trips.
What's changed is the kind of trips available. As baby boomers become grandparents and seniors become more active, families are opting for more far-flung and active adventures — fishing in Alaska, horseback riding at dude ranches, snorkeling off the coast of the Big Island of Hawaii, setting up camp — literally — at tree houses in the U.S. Virgin Island (www.maho.org) — some returning with grandkids to where they honeymooned, or sailing charters in the Caribbean (www.moorings.com), rafting and hiking in Colorado (www.epicsummer.com) touring Israel and Africa with a gaggle of grandkids, even shopping New York City's vintage stores.
"We had so much fun ... and spotted my oldest daughter's senior prom gown!" said Anna Mae Kremps, who lives near Pittsburgh. Thanks to the transportation arranged by www.shop-nyctours.com), Kremps said, "This 70-something grandma was able to keep up."
The Alaska fishing trip (http://www.bobscabin.com/) that included 78-year-old Pauline Hill and her 16-year-old grandson was such a hit that the family is returning this year and bringing along friends, reports Hill's daughter-in-law Pam from her home in Colorado.
Do that bucket trip now
These grandparents "are generally a fitter and more experiential-oriented travel crowd than their parents. So they are happy to take their grandchildren on 'adventures,' especially when they might have the opportunity to get a massage or go to yoga at the end of the day," observes Paul Lehman of Austin-Lehman Adventures (www.austinlehman.com). His company is booking more of these trips, including an Adventure Bar Mitzvah to Israel. Often, the grandparents pick up the tab, too.
And this may be the time to do it, says Gabe Saglie, senior editor of TravelZoo.com. "In terms of that bucket trip, do it now. We have not seen prices like this in a long time, if ever," he says, adding that you can negotiate even better deals when you've got a group.
The best part is you might be able to arrange a specific itinerary geared just for your family, as the Crews did when they took their family — 14 of them — to Tanzania with Wildland Adventures (www.wildland.com) to celebrate their 50th anniversary.
The Crews, incidentally, who live near Tampa, are a well-traveled couple, but said Jeri Crews, this trip with the nine grandkids was the most rewarding they've ever had.
"It was a real adventure," she explained. "Each member of the family got something out of it, and it was so thrilling to see the children discover things they hadn't ever thought of, or knew existed." One grandson, in fact, won a speech contest for recounting his visit to a village school.
Cruises remain popular
Of course, there are plenty of less exotic offerings, including YMCA camps like the YMCA of the Rockies (www.ymcarockies.org) with plenty of organized activities.
And families are still cruising — so much so that they represent one of the fastest growing segments of the cruise industry and cruise lines, like Norwegian (www.ncl.com), court them with everything from connecting rooms and suites (see the amazing options on Norwegian's new EPIC coming this summer) to family reunion packages aboard Holland America (www.HollandAmerica.com) and family memories deals on Crystal Cruises (www.crystalcruises.com). The more rooms you book, the more perks you receive.
Families are still renting houses together, too (www.discovervacationhomes.com) — everything from cabins on a private Minnesota island (www.ludlowsresort.com), where we hosted more than one multigenerational summer trip, to a South Carolina beach via Wild Dunes (www.wilddunes.com) where there are new "Family Matters" packages that offer 20 percent off villas for seven days, along with other perks to deluxe and budget European and Caribbean manses (www.hideaways.com and www.homeaway.com).
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