Only 1,300 tickets have been sold for the Wellington Sevens tournament scheduled for 28 and 29 January.

While the event used to attract big crowds in New Zealand's capital, only 15,000 pitched up at the Westpac Stadium on both weekend days last year, which resulted in a NZ$300,000 loss (around R2.8-million).

This is in stark contrast to the Cape Town Sevens, which drew capacity crowds of 50,000 on both days of last December's tournament.

'Each year we listen to fans and to change the market approach. We are gearing up for that now,' said Wellington Sevens general manager Steve Dunbar. 'We are doing all we possibly can. I hope people come out and have a good time.'

Hospitality New Zealand Wellington regional manager Dylan Firth said the industry was not expecting a big weekend and were basing expectations on last year.

'The event is not as huge as it once was, so people are not putting any investment into it.'

Photo: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images