Indian fans scramble for World Cup tickets

NEW DELHI: India may rank No. 7 in One Day Cricket ratings. The bookies may not include us in their favour for the 2003 World Cup. But Indians are prepared to cheer their team all the way to South Africa. Indians like Girish Dani, an Ahmedabad-based industrialist, who’s been to the last three World Cups with his family, is still raring to go: “We love watching India play.
New Zealand doesn’t matter. I have a feeling India will reach the finals. Even my son, who has exams, will join us for it.’’ Dani and his family are among the 4,000 Indians who are already booked for SA during the World Cup. SOTC-Kuoni and the combined team of Trust Travels-Sachinam Travels, the two agencies organising World Cup packages in India, expect another 1,000 bookings between them. Five to six day packages that cost between $1,500 and $2,000, depending on the places you visit and the matches you opt for, are the most popular. Not surprisingly, the India-Pakistan pool match on March 1 at Sun City is the hottest favourite followed by the India-Australia and India-England draws at Pretoria and Durban.
The semis and finals are equally sought after. Says Rajiv Duggal, vice-president, Special Interest Tours, Kuoni Outbound, “For the World Cup in London four years ago, 1,400 people went from India. This year, we have booked over 2,000 people.’’ Trust Travels’ Zakir Ahmed, too, says they have booked more than 1,600 packages and expect a few hundred more. Ahmed adds, “This is a big figure as the grounds in South Africa are small. Also, as the last World Cup was held in Britain, most Indians combined their family visits with the cricket matches.
This time the visits are purely tourism-cricket oriented.’’ Another interesting shift is visible. Says Duggal, “Our marketing was low-key. This time 90 per cent of those going are corporate clients — dealers who corporates want to reward. We sold our package to corporate houses saying that instead of taking your dealers for a standard three-day-four-night trip why not make it a memorable experience with Sachin Tendulkar and Virender Sehwag as part of it? The response has been excellent.’’ According to Ahmed, 70 per cent of their packages too have been booked as incentive holidays by corporate clients.
South African airways is flying 90 per cent of the clients, others who want a Dubai stopover are flying Emirates. Comment: This shows the huge potential of cricket tourism. With its many associations with the game, India should devise ways — like special fixtures, nostalgia matches and memorabilia marketing — to tap this lucrative segment.