NEW DELHI: India may be a cricket crazy country but IPL mania is yet to set in. And with tour packages for IPL II -- kickstarting on April 18 --
costing upwards of Rs 1 lakh, watching a match live could well be a pipedream.
Tour packages for South Africa have so far met with a lukewarm response. STIC Travel Group chairman Subhash Goyal said, "We have received several inquiries but firm bookings have not materialised. The situation may improve once the season begins but I feel people don't have an affiliation for any particular team at present to spend so much money in travel."
Goyal, however, added that the T20 game would draw Indians living in South Africa. "There are 2 million Indians in South Africa who will flock to watch the matches," he said.
The IPL season will last from April 18 to May 24 and feature 59 matches. So, watching the entire thing could cost a king's ransom. Not surprisingly, in these times of economic downturn, individual travellers willing to indulge in a sports vacation are few and far between. While travel companies are flooded with calls from diehard IPL fans, just the mention of the cost for a three-night-four-day package is enough for them to vote for live telecast on TV. Just travel for two matches could cost anywhere over Rs 60,000. With visa fees, stay and match tickets thrown in, costs escalate to Rs 1.2-Rs 1.6 lakh.
One of the country's biggest tour operators, Thomas Cook, has designed five packages -- all named after cricketing terms like hat-trick, googly, four and sixes, leg spin-off spin and bouncers and yorkers. Each of these packages -- including airfare, hotel stay, visa fees and match tickets -- will take you to a city for two matches. The googly package (Rs 49,900 and Rs 53,900 for a person on twin sharing basis in three and four star hotel, respectively) will take you to Johannesburg for two matches -- one at 12.30 pm and the other at 4.30 pm.
The other three-night-four-day packages offer two matches on two different days. The package for the two semi-finals and final is slightly higher at Rs 55,100 and Rs 58,500 for a person on twin sharing basis in three and four star hotels, respectively.
The other big company, Cox and Kings, is offering packages priced between Rs 18,000 to Rs 1.2 lakh that will have an additional airfare of Rs 40,000-44,000 and a match fee of $15 to $20 for each game. The company's VP Ashutosh Mehere said, "There is a growing interest among customers for our South Africa packages as they feel that they can combine it with the IPL matches. We have received a lot of enquiries and there is a lot of interest for the semi-finals and finals. South Africa is a family destination and the IPL is just a three-hour game and it is a perfect vacation for a large number of Indian families."
Meanwhile, SOTC's cheapest package is a four-day stay in Cape Town for Rs 52,500 per person while a trip to Johannesburg and Durban for the semi-final and final could set you back by a cool Rs 56,000-Rs 60,800 per person. The package for the final even includes one night at Suncity for sightseeing.
But with continuous coverage on television and regular replays, people would much rather enjoy IPL sitting at home.
No comments:
Post a Comment