India's World Cup victory over Pakistan triggers travel plans rush

MUMBAI: Cricket aficionado Kartik Iyer is busy planning his trip to Australia next week to catch the live action of Team India hitting the pitch in the ongoing ICC World Cup. After watching India’s emphatic victory over Pakistan on television like millions of other fans, the 24-year-old media professional from Mumbai is determined to cheer the team from the stands for the rest of the competition.

“A victory against arch-rivals is as good as winning the cup and the upcoming Indian matches will be high-octane,” said Iyer, who is talking to travel companies to get the best deal. Travel companies say queries have risen by about a third this week, compared to the start of the tournament that the two countries are hosting together.

“Despite Australia and New Zealand being long-haul destinations and prices at peak levels, the Indian consumers’ growing interest augurs well for sports tourism, a segment that we hope to see more of in the Indian context,” said Jatinder Paul Singh, senior vice president and head - sales and distribution, leisure travel (outbound) at Thomas Cook India.

Industry executives say it is not just individuals or families that are evincing interest in flying down to catch the action live but also corporate and MICE (meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions) groups.

Travel portal Cleartrip has seen 136% jump in bookings for Melbourne and 65% uptick in bookings for Auckland, compared to a year ago, for travel during February 16 -March 29.

“Assuming this spike can be attributed to the world cup matches being held at these destinations as well as India’s recent win against Pakistan, it’s interesting to note that travellers gave conventional holiday spots like Sydney and Bondi Beach a miss,” said Amit Taneja, Cleartrip’s chief revenue officer.

The surge in demand means fans will have to budget more for the trip than they would have otherwise. The airfares are almost 20% higher, pushing the package costs up by 10-15%, said Sharat Dhall, chief operating officer of travel portal Yatra.

Given the demand, the portal is toying with the idea of coming up with a special package for the semi final and final matches scheduled for the end of next month, Dhall said.

As per a recent Australia-New Zealand agreement, travellers will be able to apply for just an Australian visa to visit both countries during the cup. “Due to high demand, Australian visa, which usually takes 15 days to process, is taking a week longer,” said Singh of Thomas Cook.