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Ticket sales for Eurovision-2017 song contest in Kiev begin online

In total, more than 70,000 tickets, with prices ranging between 8 and 500 euro, are to be sold for the nine shows

Eurovision-2017 semi-final allocation draw EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

Eurovision-2017 semi-final allocation draw

© EPA/SERGEY DOLZHENKO

KIEV, February 14. /TASS/. People willing to buy tickets online for the final of the Eurovision-2017 song contest in Ukraine are told to wait before some 6,000 before them are served about an hour after the sales began.

"You are to be redirected to the (ticket sale) page in more than an hour," the website of the official seller, Concert.ua said.

Eurovision semifinals will be held in the Ukrainian capital on May 9 and 11, the final is scheduled for May 13. In total, more than 70,000 tickets, with prices ranging between 8 and 500 euro, are to be sold for the nine shows: six dress rehearsals, two Semi-Finals and the Grand Final.

"We tried to make the tickets available for all social groups - from romantic students to wealthy people," said Pavel Gritsak, a deputy director general of one of the concert’s organizers, the National Television Company of Ukraine (NTU).

Online ticket sales will be available to users in Ukraine and abroad.

Read also

Ukraine postpones Eurovision ticket sales amid tender scandal

The sales were to begin on February 6, but were postponed after the results of the tender to choose the official ticketing partner, won by Concert.ua, were questioned by other participants. Following a probe by Ukraine’s antimonopoly authorities, a new contract was signed with Concert.ua

Ukraine’s singer Jamala won the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest held in Stockholm with the song called "1944". Russia’s Sergey Lazarev, who sang the song "You Are The Only One", took the third place. Kiev previously hosted Eurovision in 2005 after Ukrainian singer Ruslana won the 2004 contest in Istanbul. According to the contest rules, the winning country hosts the contest the next year.

A total of 43 countries will participate in the Eurovision Song Contest this year. On January 30, Ukraine revealed the theme for the 2017 contest which is Celebrate Diversity, as well as a logo design based around namysto - a traditional Ukrainian bead necklace.

The show will be hosted by the International Exhibition Centre in Kyiv, the country’s biggest exhibition center with an area of about 58,000 square meters.

The Ukrainian government has allocated 455.7 million hryvnias (about $17 million) for preparing and hosting the event.

Representatives of Montenegro, Finland, Georgia, Portugal, Belgium, Sweden, Albania, Azerbaijan, Australia, Cyprus, Slovenia, Armenia, Moldova, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Greece, Iceland and Poland will take part in the first semi-final.

The second semifinal will feature Russia, Macedonia, Malta, the Netherlands, Serbia, Denmark, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Ireland, Switzerland, Estonia, Israel, Bulgaria, San-Marino, Lithuania, Croatia, Norway and Belarus will also perform in the second semi-final.

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