The World Today
Reporter: Ashley Hall
ELEANOR HALL: For years, the Australian fashion industry has focused its efforts on getting the attention of major buyers in Europe and the United States, but there’s a new target closer to home.
Indonesian stores are buying Australian fashion in record quantities and the Australian Government’s trade office is helping local designers to expand their toehold in the Indonesian market, as Ashley Hall reports from the last day of Australian Fashion Week.
Read more…
Beijing Olympic organizers have been trying to “save face” by bussing in crowds from soccer fan clubs, high schools, and local neighborhoods to fill the empty seats. But even with inflated statistics, there’s undeniable evidence that most Olympic venues are less than full. On Aug. 11 there were 20 competitions in 18 stadiums throughout China attended by 40,000 spectators, according to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG). Only two of stadiums were more than 90% full. Six of the venues were more than 80% full. More than half had at least 30% of seats empty.
“We’re very concerned about the stadiums not being full. I believe that it’s due to the weather,” Wang Wei, executive vice-president of BOCOG, told journalists at an Aug. 12 press briefing. Still, while rain, heat, and humidity have been a problem, Wang admitted it’s not just the weather. “Also, for some events such as basketball and beach volleyball, the ticket is for the entire morning, afternoon, or evening. They may want to only watch one game. I believe there are a lot of factors at work here.”
To be sure, Beijing is not the only Olympic host city to be plagued by empty seats. Four years ago there were many empty seats at the Athens Games, which only managed to sell two-thirds of the tickets made available to the public. Another factor: At all Olympics, the best seats in the house are given to the local organizing committee or other VIPs but are not always used. (Being a VIP does not necessarily guarantee tickets to the most popular events. Even the world’s richest man, Bill Gates, (BusinessWeek.com, 8/11/08) had to settle for tickets to badminton at the Beijing Olympics).
From : BusinessWeek.com
