Airlines make hay as cricket fans head for SA

The World Cup mania is spreading. Though it is still a couple of months away, 6,000 airline seats have already been booked for the month-long cricket carnival, which is due to begin in South Africa on February 8 next year.

The figure is 40-50 per cent more than the number of Indian cricket fans who went to see the previous World Cup in England. The final number of travellers to South Africa can be higher.

Of the 6,000 people, around 2,000 are going only to cheer the Indian team during the India-Pakistan face-off match on March 1.

South African Airways, a principal sponsor of the cup and the only airline that operates direct flights between South Africa and India, is obviously not complaining.

In fact, to accommodate the increased traffic, the airline is going to treble its flights out of the country, up from four a week currently.

"We are going to add seven additional flights, that is more than a 1,000 seats extra, for the event. The plans are to introduce more flights for the semifinals and finals if the demand soars," Nalini Gupta, general manager (India) of South African Airways, said.

Not to be outdone, travel agents in India are offering a branded package called the Cricket Safari 2003, for the event.

The agencies which have exclusive marketing rights from the South African Cricket Board to sell the event in the country are Keshav Travels, Sachinam Travels, Trust Travels and Travel Services International.

"We

started booking for the event in July this year," said Sanjay Arya, managing partner, Keshav Travels.

"We have had a tremendous response and have booked 1,000 people for the matches in South Africa for February and March. Considering that we generally have 1,000 bookings on an average for the whole year for South Africa, this is really good," Vikas Khanduri, regional manager (north India), Cox & Kings, said.

According to Praveen Chugh, managing director Travel Services International, bookings have been 50 per cent more than the last World Cup.

"We expect to finalise bookings for about 3,000 people from the northern region, up from 1,200 at present," he said.

This increase in traffic is being attributed to the participation of corporates who are offering consumer promotions and dealer incentives. About 70 per cent of the total bookings have come from companies.

While BPL has booked about 100 seats, Whirlpool has finalised 125 seats and Gillette is sending 200 people.

Even pharmaceutical companies, including the Max Group and Morepen, are contemplating weaving their promotional offers around the event.

Interestingly, while about 40 per cent of the bookings from these companies are for consumer promotions, the rest 60 per cent are centered around dealer incentives.

Some agents feel that the dealer-incentive destinations have shifted to South Africa this year from Mauritius, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Singapore last year.