Chinese Formula One Grand Prix Slashes Ticket Prices to Attract Crowds

Organizers of the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai slashed ticket prices for the first time in a bid to attract Formula One fans amid the global economic slowdown.

The price of some three-day entry tickets was almost halved to 980 yuan ($143) from 1,880 yuan, ticketing agent Shanghai Juss Event Management Co. said on its Web site. Some single-day tickets now cost 260 yuan compared with 480 yuan in 2008.

“We’re lowering prices with the view of helping auto-sport fans and ease their financial burdens of watching the race live,” Jiang Lan, managing director of Juss Event Management, said in a statement.

The global credit crunch already prompted Honda Motor Co. to withdraw from Formula One and the sport’s ruling body and remaining manufacturers are trying to weather the crisis by cutting spending on engines and in-season testing.

Shanghai’s government, which spent $240 million to build the circuit for the race, will decide by the end of the year whether to continue staging the event after its contract runs out in 2010.

“We want to achieve balance in the cost spending for this event,” Qiu Weichang, deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Sport, said in a statement on Juss Event Management’s Web site.

The Chinese Grand Prix, which was first held in 2004, was moved up to the third race of the 2009 season on April 19 after previously being held toward the end of the series.

(Source: Bloomberg)