New poll says Greeks planning on attending Olympic Games

ATHENS, Greece — Most Greek citizens want to attend the Olympic Games but have been waiting until the last minute to buy a ticket, according to a nationwide poll released Monday.

The poll, commissioned by the Athens Organizing Committee, also found that 40 percent of Athens’ nearly 5 million residents said that they intend to stay in the capital so they can attend an Olympic sporting event.

That’s considerably more than the 26.1 percent who said they would stay when the same poll was carried out in May.

“This confirms assessments that the intention of people to buy tickets for the games is increasing,” the organizing committee said in a statement.

Athens Olympic officials have been campaigning in recent months for Greeks to buy more tickets after less than half of the 5.3 million were sold.