Hampered by high cost, only resolute sports fans head to Rio

HHtravel, the high-end subsidiary of Ctrip.com International Ltd, promoted two different World Cup packages priced at 397,500 and 495,000 yuan and stopped taking bookings on Monday.

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Male soccer fans between 35 and 50 years old are the primary customers of the World Cup packages, statistics from HHtravel show.

"Visitors to South America are usually high-end travelers, because of the long distance and high price involved," the agency told China Daily in a statement.

On average, the price of Brazil World Cup tourism packages are at least 30 percent higher than they were four years ago when the tournament was played in South Africa, business insiders said, with both game tickets and hotels being more expensive.

Some Chinese soccer fans were put off by the Brazil World Cup because of the distance and the price.

Guan Xiaohao, a 32-year old living in Beijing, said he had planned to visit Brazil during the World Cup but he had to give up on the dream when he discovered it was impossible to book a room at a reasonable price.

The long journey was also a concern, Guan said, since there are no direct flights between China and Brazil.

Not every Chinese agency offered World Cup packages, as South America is not a popular destination for Chinese travelers.

"Brazil is a niche market, and we do not offer tourism resources there," said a manager from BTG International Travel and Tours who refused to be identified.

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