Oberammergau’s organizers have extended the deadline for full payment of tickets to the once-a-decade Passion Play performance.

Operators were required to put down a 20% deposit for ticket blocks last year, and full payment was originally due Sept. 30, more than six months before performances begin on May 15 -- conditions squarely at odds with this year’s last-minute booking trend.

The Passion Play typically attracts a quarter of a million travelers from North America. A much-anticipated Christian event, the 2010 enactment has seen slower sales than in decades past, when the event regularly sold out.

But operators caught a break last week, when Oberammergau’s organizers sent a memo to its trade partners announcing that they had more time to pay the balance on block reservations.

"Some of you are concerned that sales levels for the 2010 Passion Play have not reached figures similar to those of 2000 for this same booking period," Oberammergau's organizers wrote.

Instead of the full payment, the event's organizing body will accept another 30% deposit paid by September, with the remaining balance to be paid by Jan. 31.

Also, organizers eased cancellation penalties. Originally, customers who canceled 180 to 142 days before arrival had to pay 25% of the price of Passion Play tickets; those who canceled 141 to 92 days before arrival had to pay 30%.

Now, a cancellation charge of 20% plus the booking fee will be in effect until 91 days prior to package departure date.

Prior to the relaxation of payment terms, the European Tour Operators Association had warned that if Oberammergau’s organizers didn’t amend their policies, they were at risk of having thousands of unsold tickets and hotel rooms.

Oberammergau's organizers said they will beef up marketing efforts for an event that usually sells out far in advance.

"From discussions, we know that many of you have already undertaken considerable press and PR activities to support your own sales efforts,” Oberammergau's organizers wrote in a letter to the trade. "Considering the financial current climate, we recognize the need to support these efforts with an overall media campaign. We feel that this campaign should appeal on an ‘emotional’ level and be less sales-focused."

Oberammergau's organizers said they have launched a campaign in the U.K. and in North America for print, radio and TV. The campaign includes interviews with actors from the 2010 enactment who were also in the 2000 performance. Oberammergau also plans to launch a website that features tour products.

Many U.S. tour operators -- including Globus, Tauck World Discovery, Travel Bound, Collette Vacations, General Tours World Traveler and Brian Moore International Tours -- have secured tickets and are offering Oberammergau packages.

The Passion Play dates to 1633. At the end of the Black Plague, the town of Oberammergau vowed to perform a “Play of the Suffering, Death and Resurrection of Our Lord Jesus Christ” every 10 years, according to the Oberammergau local authority.

The 2010 performance will feature more than 2,000 Oberammergauers, actors, singers and musicians. Performances will occur from May 15 to Oct. 3, for a total of 102 performance days.

Oberammergau is in Germany’s Bavaria state, 56 miles southwest of Munich and just north of the Austrian border.