Haha, well the tickets for the Opening at London are quite ridiculous -- of course, as we all know, they are the most expensive in Olympic history. This is a pretty good graphic if it hasn't already been posted here:
http://www.pdviz.com/2012-london-olympic-opening-ceremony-ticket-p
I'm guessing it's a matter of inflating it to local market prices, market demand...and just because LOCOG can. I would imagine that some EU policies might also be in the works that are allowing tickets to be sold to anyone in the EU, not just the traditional domestic audience?
Vancouver is a pretty expensive city to work with, and I'm sure David Atkins realized that himself. Right now, I'm organizing a major global conference to be held in a few months in Vancouver -- getting ready to stage everything from the Opening Ceremony to the relighting of the Olympic Cauldron!