Germany's Olympic Sports Confederation (DOSB) has confirmed via Twitter on Tuesday that 64 percent of Hamburg residents are in favor of their city hosting the 2024 or 2028 Olympics. In comparison, 55 percent of Berlin residents would be in favor of the city hosting a Summer Olympics the organization said.

The poll was conducted in February over the telephone with a sample of 1,500 citizens over the age of 14 in both cities, the DOSB said. The confederation is set to name its preferred choice on March 16 before its members decide on the final German selection on March 21.

DOSB president Alfons Hörmann said that he was happy about the "huge approval rate for the Olympics and Paralympics," following the research.

"We are especially happy about the fact that the approval rate has increased in both cities for this poll," he added.

"For us, it is even more pleasing that the number of people actually opposing the Olympics has decreased in both cities too," he said at a press conference in Neu-Isenburg.

In comparison to the last DOSB poll conducted in September of last year, approval for the Olympics in both cities has grown considerably. Back then, the approval rate in Hamburg was 53 percent, while only 48 percent of Berlin residents were in favor of hosting the Olympics.

Elsewhere, Boston and Rome have already announced their candidacies with several other cities, including Budapest, Istanbul, Doha, Baku and Paris also considering possible bids. The final decision about who will host the 2024 event will be made at a meeting of the International Olympic Committee in Peru in 2017.

al/apc (SID, Reuters)