San Sebastian set for Munster spending bonanza despite lower demand

MUNSTER fans will contribute an estimated €7m to the French and Spanish economies despite a weakened response to ticket demand for the Heineken Cup semi-final with Biarritz in San Sebastian.

For the first time in recent years, Munster will be sending back as much as 40% of their 10,000 ticket allocation, but at least 7,000 supporters are still expected to flock into the Spanish venue for Sunday week’s game.

According to Munster Supporters’ Club spokesperson, Jennifer Kiernan, 5,000 tickets have already been sold through the club. Sales will continue over the weekend through the website, and on site at Thomond Park today when Munster take on the Ospreys.

“We expect to sell more tickets through both avenues but we will obviously be returning some of our allocation, as demanded by ERC, on Monday,” said Kiernan.

Outside of the recession, the fall off in ticket demand is probably mainly down to the difficulty of getting to San Sebastian for Munster fans.

However, Kiernan was optimistic Munster will have a significant following, pointing out that hundreds of fans will probably find their own way down to the Spanish venue.

“We never cease to be amazed as to where these people come from, but they do turn up and we would be confident of having a huge core group of supporters next week.”

Another reason for the less than usual demand for tickets has been the flying restrictions following the recent volcano eruption in Iceland and, of course, the fact that Munster and Leinster supporters might be holding back given that the final is in Paris and might well involve both Irish teams.