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At many World Cup games, numerous seats remained empty
Photo: Mike Egerton / dpa
According to a media report, just over 765,000 people traveled to Qatar in the first two weeks of the World Cup.
The figures are therefore below the expectations of the country, which had expected 1.2 million international visitors during the tournament.
This emerges from a report obtained by the Reuters news agency.
According to Reuters, the organizers had expected the most visitors in the group stage.
Between November 22 and December 2, the 32 teams played games every four days, and now eight teams remain in the tournament.
Eight more games will be played in Doha before the final on December 18th.
Therefore, the World Cup makers no longer expect a large rush of new international fans.
According to Reuters, the report was prepared by the Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy (SC).
The committee is responsible for organizing the tournament.
As a result, 765,859 international visitors were counted in the first 17 days of the World Cup, more than half of which are said to have left by now.
The Commission initially did not respond to a request from Reuters.
Too many accommodations, fewer traffic problems
The conditions for migrant workers, the disregard for human rights and the corruption-overshadowed allocation process of the World Cup had previously caused criticism of the tournament in Qatar.
Many fans were also critical of the high ticket prices, expensive accommodation and the restricted sale of alcohol.
Reuters reports that there has now been an oversupply of accommodation due to the reduced number of visitors.
At the same time, there were fewer traffic problems.
Overall, the report lists 3.09 million tickets sold for the entire tournament.
The first 52 games were watched by a total of 2.65 million viewers, it said.
The situation was often different in the stadiums, the reporters from SPIEGEL reported that there were many free places both in the preliminary round and in the round of 16.
It is expected that more people from the Gulf region will travel to Doha for the crucial World Cup games.
Qatar had previously relaxed entry restrictions for nationals and residents of the other Gulf States.
ast/Reuters
