Some Rugby World Cup ticket sales for matches in Christchurch are being delayed to allow Canterbury residents time to focus on recovering from Saturday's earthquake.
Following on from the sale of multiple ticket packages for the World Cup, individual match tickets for the tournament go on sale tomorrow.
However, some tickets for matches at Christchurch - for which the stadium has been given the all clear by structural engineers - are being held back.
"We acknowledge that people have much on their plate at the moment so we have decided to make a special allocation of tickets for Christchurch matches which will be made at a later date," Rugby New Zealand 2011 chairman Jock Hobbs said.
"Cantabrians have shown great spirit in coping with this disaster - it is that spirit which gives us confidence that they will bounce back and put on a fantastic tournament next year."
Hobbs told a gathering in Auckland marking one year to the day that the World Cup starts that the hearts of the rugby community went out to the Canterbury people and he was confident the region would do a great job for next year's tournament.
"We've remained in contact with the regional coordination group in Christchurch this week. At this stage there is nothing to suggest the city will not be able to play a full part in hosting this event," he said.
"The people of Christchurch have shown great spirit in coping with this disaster. It is that spirit which gives us confidence that they will bounce back and put in place a fantastic tournament for next year."
Prime Minister John Key said the earthquake and the numerous aftershocks had been devastating and caused a lot of stress but that overall the city had held up remarkably well.
"It was an earthquake the same magnitude as the one felt in Haiti where 230,000 people lost their lives," Mr Key said.
"In Christchurch no one lost their life, and that is testimony to building code in New Zealand, the practices that take place and the strength of our underlying fabric of our infrastructure.
"I think the good news about that is that it demonstrates that we are a country that's in great shape to host something like the Rugby World Cup, and we are going to get Christchurch back on track to make sure it's going to be a successful part of the 2011 event."
NZPA