The soon-to-be-launched 2023 Cambodia SEA Games Organizing Committee (Camsoc) digital platform will create an electronic ticketing outlet for the May 25-June 5 second National Games Opening and Closing Ceremonies, with a provision to extend it to select football and indoor games.
Feasibility surveys of both the Olympic Stadium and the Morodok National Sports Complex, on the outskirts of the city 18km away, were carried out over the past few days by Plovtech Solutions, the company which set up the National Olympic Committee of Cambodia website and which has now been tasked with the Camsoc project.
The managing director of Plovtech, Ajayi Jones, who is based in the Republic of Ireland, returned last week for his second visit to the Kingdom in two months to work out the logistics involved in the Camsoc operations.
After visiting both the Olympic Stadium and the Morodok Complex in the company of NOCC Advisor Ken Gadaffi last Friday, Ajayi Jones struck a confident note that, with structural adjustments and accurately numbered seating arrangements, e-ticketing would be the way forward, keeping in mind the challenge of hosting the 2023 SEA Games.
“The National Games are fast approaching, and we have about three months to work on this project and time is of the essence. But if we test it out now and learn from both the positives and negatives we can ensure quality service for the SEA Games in five years’ time,” Jones told The Post.
“There is a lot of work to be done. The seats will have to be accurately numbered, we need markers to guide the spectators to their respective seats. Then we need volunteers to help fans and, to top of it all off, we need to encourage people to embrace e-ticketing as a habit – and that requires raising the awareness of its benefits,” the Plovtech managing director said.
Among the major benefits Camsoc will be looking at from this well organised and coordinated system include orderly seating, security, crowd control, statistics and sponsor satisfaction.
“We want to closely watch how well this high-tech facility could be deployed for the National Games as Camsoc will be extending its fullest support. Basically, we are testing the water to see how people respond. It is the best way of starting preparations for 2023,” said NOCC secretary-general Vath Chamroeun, who is also the CEO of Camsoc.
“The preliminary survey has given us hope that it can be done in time for the National Games. There are steep challenges to overcome – we cannot predict cent-per-cent success. Failures cannot be ruled out but we can learn from them and make the system better as we move on to our major target,” noted NOCC advisor Gadaffi.