ICC Cricket World Cup means brisk business for India

The pandemic left the hospitality sector ravaged, which has now limped back to normalcy. The G20 meetings being held across cities have come as a boost, and so has the Cricket World Cup.

Hotel tariffs soar
The hotel industry is already starting to have a good innings with soaring tariffs. In Ahmedabad, where the Men in Blue will face archnemesis Pakistan on October 15 at India’s largest cricket stadium, most five-star hotels have 60%-90% of their rooms already booked for the match days, TOI has reported.

“About 80 per cent of the rooms for the match days are sold. For the opening ceremony and the first match between England and New Zealand, bookings have already been made by travel agencies from England and major corporations,” Punit Baijal, general manager, Hyatt Regency Ahmedabad, has told TOI.

Hyatt, one of the leading five-star hotels, is charging a whopping Rs. 1,10,000 for a night on October 13 (no room is available for October 14 or 15), on MakeMyTrip and its subsidiary Goibibo. However, in August and September, rooms are available under Rs. 7,500.

Other five-star hotels, Radisson Blu and ITC, are charging Rs. 28,000 to 35,000 on October 13. In these hotels too, rooms aren’t available on the 14th and 15th. These rooms cost upto Rs. 9,999 in August and September.

ET Online

Not just in Ahmedabad, hotels are showing high tariffs for the match days even in Dharamsala where the HPCA stadium is hosting the Kiwis against India on October 22.

Dharamsala, a small town in the foothills of the mighty Dhauladars, has very few five-star hotels. Hyatt, in the neighbouring Dharamkot, is charging Rs. 45,000 on October 20 on MakeMyTrip. The tariff in August and September for a room is less than Rs. 19,000.

Airfare
Not just the hotels, even flights are getting pricier.

Air tickets around match days to host cities are costing nearly twice the amount they do on normal days, even if booked three months in advance.

An economy-class Delhi-Ahmedabad ticket is priced Rs. 7,000 on October 14, a day before the India-Pakistan match in the city. This ticket is priced nearly Rs. 2,800 in August and September.

The Mumbai-Ahmedabad route on October 14 has also turned pricey, with a ticket going for Rs. 5,000. In August and September, the price is Rs. 2,100.

Not just to Ahmedabad, flights to Lucknow, which is hosting India-England match on October 29, have also got costlier on and around match days. Delhi-Lucknow economy-class ticket is priced at around Rs. 3,400 in the match week compared to less than 2,800 throughout August and September.

Airfare for the Delhi-Dharamsala route on October 21, a day before the match, is Rs. 7,000. The ticket costs less than Rs. 4,200 in August and September.

TV sales
Not everybody can go to a stadium to watch the match. Most people will watch it on TV. And that’s going to fuel the sale of TVs. Even during the 2019 Cricket World Cup, consumer electronics majors Samsung, Sony, LG and Panasonic had reported upto 100 per cent jump in sales of large-screen TVs (55-inch and above) compared to the same period previous year.

The sales spike wasn’t restricted to just metro cities. Hubli, Jabalpur, Raipur, Ranchi, Kochi and Nagpur too had posted sturdy numbers. The companies had lined up attractive offers including easy financing and cashbacks to grab the consumer’s attention. People can expect similar eclectic offers on TVs even this year.

Samsung had witnessed a five-fold jump in the sale of 75-inch and above TV screens, signaling people’s inclination towards bigger screens during such tournaments.

There could also be significant pent-up demand from sports lovers from last year. TV sales that typically go up during cricket and football world cups did not see any spike amid the Qatar World Cup last year, despite retailers and brands launching soccer-oriented promotions, ET had reported. A major factor was the Qatar World Cup coming after the festival season when most Indians had already done their major spending. Those who did not buy large TVs for the Qatar World Cup last year might buy now for the Cricket World Cup.

Tourism
A large number of people are coming from foreign countries to watch the matches, and many of them might also add trips to tourist destinations during their stay in India.

Visitors often plan their holidays around these tournaments months in advance and watching the match is just one prong of their plan to explore India. Tour operators book hotels in advance to accommodate their customers.

Since England is the defending champion, a huge number of British spectators, the Barmy Army, are expected to come to India, who might visit other places too.

How World Cup 2019 boosted UK businesses
In 2019, when the UK hosted the Cricket World Cup, 20 percent of attendees came from outside and 85 percent ticket buyers came from out of the city, according to an ICC report.

The 2019 World Cup in the UK had generated almost Rs. 3,600 crore of economic impact through additional money spent in the host economy by event visitors and organisers as well as business-to-business supplier contracts and broader consumer spend.

London, also the home to the Mecca of Cricket, Lord’s, hosted 11 matches including the final and attracted the most direct economic impact of almost Rs. 1,300 crore, while semi-final venues Manchester and Birmingham attracted a direct economic impact of Rs 370 crore and Rs. 300 crore respectively.

Even in a very small city, Taunton which hosted only three matches, the World Cup made an economic contribution of Rs. 82 crore.