Turin Olympic organisers still have almost 40 per cent of tickets on their hands but say they are confident they will be snapped up before the Winter Games extravaganza begins in 71 days.

Luciano Barra, deputy chief executive of the organising committee (TOROC), told members of the European Olympic Committee that 30,000 were sold in a November surge and that marketing tools were beginning to bear fruit.

"There is not a culture of buying tickets in advance in Italy," Barra said. "So these figures represent something of a success."

Games organisers have sold more than half-a-million tickets ahead of the February 10 to 26 Olympics.

Barra said ice hockey had proved to be the most popular with more than 150,000 tickets already sold, followed by speed skating, figure skating, alpine skiing and cross country.

TOROC have sold only a little over half the tickets for the opening ceremony, however, and still have almost 80 per cent of tickets for luge and skeleton unsold.

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