VILNIUS - Lithuania's ticket agency, Tiketa, has rolled out a new system that allows users to buy tickets to movies, concerts and other events without having to leave their homes or offices. The agency expects to sell around 100,000 tickets this year and a million tickets next year under the new arrangement.
Users of the system can now buy their tickets online and print them out at home. Residents can also book tickets by telephone or SMS and pick them up at ticket-selling locations.
"We believe that this system, which allows users to pay for their tickets via the Internet and print them out at home, will change the public's ticket-buying habits," Ernestas Kacerauskas, the company's director, told the Baltic News Service.
Kacerauskas added that customers of Hansabankas, Lithuania's second-largest commercial bank, would be able to purchase their tickets through the bank's e-banking service, hanza.net, or use Hansa vouchers to pay for their tickets at the bank's retail outlets.
Those buying tickets via hanza.net will also be able to print them out at home.
Tiketa currently has one outlet in the capital of Vilnius and one in Kaunas. The company expects to expand its chain to 15 within the next two weeks.
The agency also intends to start selling tickets to events taking place outside the country as early as next year.
Rubicon Group purchased Tiketa, which was set up by the Vilnius Concert and Sports Palace in 1999, in July of this year.
Rubicon Group is one of the largest multi-business groups in Lithuania with a workforce of over 1,200 employees. The group has holdings in 20 companies in industries ranging from manufacturing, utilities, real estate and entertainment.
