With the ICC Cricket World Cup 2011 being hosted in the subcontinent after a long span of 15 years, cricket fans and enthusiasts are heading towards the subcontinent to catch the matches and cheer for their favorite teams.
Numerous fans are busy confirming their travel reservations, and booking tickets for matches.
Online tour operators and travel agents are benefitting from this as they are witnessing great holiday bookings during the world cup.
The maximum bookings have been made for the India vs. South Africa match on March 12 in Nagpur and the India vs. West Indies battle at Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on March 20. These travel agents are offering special travel packages which comprises of air travel, hotel stay, match tests, meals and transfers in India.
Gautam Kaul, COO, Inbound – Yatra Exotic Routes, Yatra.com stated, “Travellers coming in for 15-20 days to cheer for their team playing four matches would also look forward to travel to nearby destinations in between.” He said further, “People are either choosing to travel for 3-4 days or for a longer duration of 6-7 days pre or post the tournament. Between February 20 and March 15, we expect to handle at least 100-120 foreign travellers.”
Much prior to the Cricket World Cup, online travel service providers such as Cleartrip and MakeMyTrip have witnessed an increase in the booking of hotels and air tickets.
Keyur Joshi, Co-Founder and COO, Makemytrip.com stated “While we have been receiving queries from Australia, UK and UAE for World cup and many travellers extending their holiday to explore rest of India.”
Joshi said further, “But there still hasn’t been a huge jump in traffic due to world cup. We think it’s an opportunity loss for tourism in India.”
He said further, “World cup is an event big enough for the government to attract foreign tourists to India, which has not been marketed well.”
Numerous fans are busy confirming their travel reservations, and booking tickets for matches.
Online tour operators and travel agents are benefitting from this as they are witnessing great holiday bookings during the world cup.
The maximum bookings have been made for the India vs. South Africa match on March 12 in Nagpur and the India vs. West Indies battle at Chidambaram stadium in Chennai on March 20. These travel agents are offering special travel packages which comprises of air travel, hotel stay, match tests, meals and transfers in India.
Gautam Kaul, COO, Inbound – Yatra Exotic Routes, Yatra.com stated, “Travellers coming in for 15-20 days to cheer for their team playing four matches would also look forward to travel to nearby destinations in between.” He said further, “People are either choosing to travel for 3-4 days or for a longer duration of 6-7 days pre or post the tournament. Between February 20 and March 15, we expect to handle at least 100-120 foreign travellers.”
Keyur Joshi, Co-Founder and COO, Makemytrip.com stated “While we have been receiving queries from Australia, UK and UAE for World cup and many travellers extending their holiday to explore rest of India.”
Joshi said further, “But there still hasn’t been a huge jump in traffic due to world cup. We think it’s an opportunity loss for tourism in India.”
He said further, “World cup is an event big enough for the government to attract foreign tourists to India, which has not been marketed well.”
