Four travel agents in Costa Rica were fined for false or deceptive advertising for trips to the World Cup 2014 in Brazil. Each of the travel agencies were fine ¢2.2 million colones (US$4.400 dollars).
The Dirección Nacional de Apoyo al Consumidor (National Consumer Support) found guilty, Destinos TV.com, Condotropic Sports, Times Square Travel Agency, Ludierpress S.A. y Servicios Turísticos Escazú.
The Dirección investigation followed a complaint filed by competitor Viajes Colón.
According to the director of the Oficina de Apoyo al Consumidor (Office of Consumer Support), Cynthia Zapata, only Viajes Colón may offer/include/sell tickets to the World Cup with the purchase of transportation services, accommodation, meals and airline tickets.
From FIFA: Purchase of World Cup 2014 Tickets
A total of 1,179,363 tickets were requested within 24 hours of the opening of the second sales phase for the 2014 FIFA World Cup on www.FIFA.com. Approximately 86% were requested by Brazilian football fans, thus making Brazil the country with the highest number of requests ahead of USA (38,009), Argentina (30,659), Chile (23,014), Colombia (12,103), Mexico (11,580), Australia (8,064), Germany (6,556), England (6,469) and France (6,006).
[quote]You can now apply for Team Specific Tickets for one of the 32 qualified teams for the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil™. Please be aware that only nationals, residents or members of the Member Association´s Fan Club may apply for Team Specific Tickets. For more details, please visit www.FIFA.com/tickets.[/quote]
Football fans have until 12.00 (CET) on 30 January 2014 to apply for tickets on www.FIFA.com/tickets. During this sales period, all fans have an equal chance to be successful, regardless of the date of the ticket request, as all requests will be amalgamated at the end of the phase and processed together. In the event that the number of requests received per product and category exceeds the number of tickets available, a lottery will be held to determine the successful applicants.
FIFA has reserved 16% of the tickets for every match for fans from both teams (8% per team per match), including tickets for Brazilian and Croatian fans for the opening match at Arena Corinthians in São Paulo on 12 June 2014. To be eligible for PMA tickets, applicants must either reside in or be a national of the country whose match they wish to attend. In this quota, only tickets from categories 1-3 are available.
