There are tentative smiles from New Zealand's Rugby World Cup organisers after domestic ticket applications for next year's tournament made a strong start.

A week out from the official launch of applications to the general public, chief executive of Rugby New Zealand (RNZ) 2011 Ltd Martin Snedden was boosted by the response to priority sales for members of the "rugby community" on Monday.

In 24 hours, there were about 5000 applications for team or venue pool match packages, significantly more than had been expected.

The rugby community comprises any registered club players, coaches, referees, volunteers or administrators who are involved in the running of rugby.

"That sounded really good to us," Snedden said of the response.

"We're really stepping into the unknown. This is much, much bigger than anything that's happened in New Zealand in any previous event.

"While we have expectations and financial forecasts, the reality is we don't know what's going to happen.

"When we have days like yesterday, that's really motivating, it's good."

The response of venue box holders and provincial union season ticket holders at each of the 13 match venues was still being processed but Snedden said "it was a very strong uptake".

With about 1.65 million tickets to be sold for the tournament, Snedden compared the early response to the first two per cent of votes having been tallied on an election night.

The interest shown, in conjunction with compelling figures from the sale of top-end packages overseas, is reason for quiet confidence according to RNZ.

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