Marquee sports events, including global sporting tournaments, contribute significantly to India’s hotel and accommodation business. The symbolic relationship between sports and hospitality is reshaping India’s tourism landscape.
With cricket being an immensely popular sport in India with the rising popularity of IPL and the country also playing hosts to the next ICC Men’s ODI World Cup in India, the stakes are even higher for fans to experience matches at the stadium in numbers.
Since the release of the schedule for the World Cup, cities across India, especially Ahmedabad, being the host to the finals and the highly anticipated India – Pakistan match have seen significant pent-up demand for accommodation.
Among other sports also, the advent of new leagues and the popularity of major global events are driving demand for hotels and accommodation across price points in multiple cities and a surge in bookings.
Multiple cities which are playing host to the Cricket World Cup are prepping to deal with the surge in visitor arrival and increase stay-option demand while hospitality players and travel agencies across India are also curating special packages for October and November 2023.
Global hospitality technology company OYO has announced that it will add 500 new hotels in host cities in the next three months to meet the anticipated increase in booking demand as cricket fans prepare to celebrate one of India’s most awaited sporting tournaments. The new hotels will be strategically located near the stadiums, ensuring easy access to cricket fans.
The air is already palpable with excitement, with hotel tariffs soaring due to heightened demand across host cities three months ahead. OYO said it has also witnessed a significant surge in demand for the duration of the tournament.
Since tourists are choosing to steer clear of hilly terrains around NCR due to frequent landslides and chock-a-block traffic, people are looking at Goa, Kerala and even Maharashtra this monsoon. Digital travel platform Agoda recently revealed that as compared to 2019, there has been five times (410%) rise in monsoon (June-August) travel searches.
Additionally, the price of air tickets around match days to host cities have also shot up significantly, indicating a prosperous run for the entire tourism and hospitality industry. On the match dates, airfares have risen by 2-3 times while the rates for 4-star and 5-star hotels have surged by an astonishing 10-15 times. Even 3-star and lower-category hotels have witnessed a doubling in their room rates. Commenting on the incredible surge in travel and accommodation demand, Bharatt Malik, Senior VP – Flights and Hotel Business, Yatra Online said the cricket fever has truly taken hold, as they observe a remarkable double-digit growth in all the cities surrounding the World Cup venues.
“We are witnessing a flurry of queries and growing interest in flight bookings. However, as we approach the event dates and the ICC opens its platform for ticket sales, we fully expect to see a substantial surge in demand, particularly in cities like Lucknow, Kolkata, Pune, Ahmedabad, and Delhi. Currently, for flights, we have witnessed a surge of 5 to 7 per cent. For hotels, cities where India is playing have seen greater growth than non-India matches. Ahmedabad has seen a jump of 70 to 90 per cent. This is due to India – Pakistan match scheduled there and the relatively smaller inventory compared to bigger cities. Delhi hotels have witnessed a jump of 15 to 20 per cent only. To ensure that cricket fans seize the moment and book their travel to watch the matches, we at Yatra have carefully curated products and services for them,” he said.
Whereas leading travel agency MakeMyTrip is targeting to increase the inventory of homestay properties across select metros and cities in anticipation of the heightened demand due to the heavy cricket season. To help travellers, MakeMyTrip has developed a new feature reflecting the distance of the accommodation from the cricket stadium in the city. This feature will help cricket fans in booking the most suitable accommodation option.
Inviting residents across cricket centres to list their properties on the platform, MakeMyTrip has also constituted a ‘Host Your Home Cell,’ comprising a dedicated team, available 24X7 to aid onboarding of homes on MakeMyTrip’s homestay funnel.
“We have observed a significant surge in the search of homestay properties for October and November in select cities across the country. This is a good sign and indicates that cricket fans are more willing than ever to explore homestays as an accommodation option,” said Parikshit Choudhury, Chief Business Officer – Alternate Accommodation & Customer Contact Group, MakeMyTrip.
“A large proportion of homestay properties in cricket centres across October and November is still available for cricket lovers at an economical price. Historically, our efforts to increase penetration have been focused on leisure markets, but now we are also focusing on business cities. It will be a win-win for the host and the traveller as India prepares to immerse itself in cricket fever,” he added.
The tournament, which begins on October 5 and concludes on November 19, will see the participation of teams representing India, England, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and The Netherlands. Matches will be played across Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Delhi, Dharamsala, Chennai, Lucknow, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Kolkata, and Pune.
A staggering one crore weddings take place in India every year. The country hosts 25 per cent of the weddings happening worldwide, which means one of the four weddings on Earth happens in India. It gives a sense of the scale of weddings in India as couples and families pour their wealth and savings to make the grand affair one for the books.
