Click to play videoMumbai: Filmmaker Manish Acharya, a diehard cricket fan, had booked a passage to West Indies six months in advance. And with five tour operators offering options between Rs 3 to 5 lakh, the choice was virtually unlimited. But now with the Boys in Blue having crashed out, Manish is left with tickets he has no use of.
"We applied for tickets during the lottery. We wanted to go for the Super eight assuming that India would qualify,” says Manish.
When asked what he would do now that the Indian team in out the World Cup, Manish says, “I plan to buy a green shirt and cheer for Bangladesh.”
But for Manish and other like him who are stuck with a holiday they perhaps don't want, and tickets to a Bangladesh-Ireland match when they hoped to watch the Indian team in action is not so much a matter of interest as that of no choice.
"They're trapped. Cruises and these kinds of packages always need advance and once the advance it paid, it’s very difficult to get it. There are huge cancellation charges so people instead of bearing the charges will say lets go and have a holiday at least,” says Director, Kesari Tours, Veena Patil.
In fact in comparison to the packages offered for the World Cup in South Africa in 2003, this time round, cheering the team from the stands is almost thrice as expensive. And with 1,500 to 2,000 cricket enthusiasts booking their places, travel agencies are still optimistic about the continued tourist traffic.
"There are two waves. One is the cricket lover who wanted to see international class cricket. They are still enthusiastic about cricket. But there is a patriotic class and they are the ones still making up their minds,” says COO, SOTC, Sunil Gupta.
Following India’s debacle, some among the patriotic ones have already made up their minds. And there is a shift towards destinations like Australia and New Zealand where there is no cricket but a good holiday is assured along with a lesser impact on the pocket.
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