Ticket purchasers have applied for refunds on about 200,000 of the roughly 970,000 tickets sold in Japan for the postponed Tokyo Paralympics, organizers announced Wednesday.
The refund applications, accepted from Dec. 1 to Dec. 21, were for about 21 percent of the total sold for the event, which will now take place in 2021 from Aug. 24 to Sept. 5 after a one-year delay due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“This is a confirmation that most people are looking forward to our staging the games,” an organizing committee official said. “Our preparations for safe and secure games are moving forward.”
Tickets that have already been purchased remain valid in principle for rescheduled events next year. Organizers decided to offer refunds for domestic ticket holders who can no longer attend the games because of the postponement.
Organizers are considering making the refunded tickets available for purchase.
Paralympic ticket refunds will be issued starting from the middle of January.
Organizers received requests for refunds on about 810,000, or roughly 18 percent of the 4.45 million tickets sold domestically for the Olympics, which will now open on July 23.
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