By Nandini Oza
Hotel tariffs in Ahmedabad and airfares of incoming flights to the Heritage City have seen a massive surge after India entered the final of the T20 WC on Thursday night, defeating England by seven runs in Mumbai. India takes on New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium (NMS) on Sunday, which has a capacity of 132,000.
Ticket prices for the final have also jacked up and one of the tickets in the South Premium West stand was as high as Rs 71,980. 35-year old Ravi Vaishnav, who purchased two tickets for Rs 8,000, said he has heard that these are now available for Rs 50,000.
Hotels brace for full occupancy on match day
Those in the know of developments in the hotel industry say that by the match day the entire inventory in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar, which is about 30 km away from Ahmedabad, will be booked or probably even overbooked.
Koustuv Mukherjee, associate vice president of Pride Group of Hotels told FE that about 50% of the inventory was already sold out about a fortnight ago and now there has been a ten-fold rise in the tariffs with India entering the final.
“A room that would usually cost around Rs. 4,000 per night is selling at Rs 1 lakh plus GST in our three-star business property near the NMS,” he said.
“We had a few cancellations from different parts of the world due to the West Asia conflict. However, the demand from those coming from different cities in India is increasing,” he added.
Vikas Sood, GM of The Leela in Gandhinagar, told FE that they have kept their room rates between Rs 35,000 and Rs 40,000. “We don’t want to increase the price,” he said.
“Many people have booked air tickets and now are waiting to buy match tickets. They will book the rooms once they get match tickets,” he pointed out.
The tickets are “Coming Soon” as seen on some websites.
Airfares surge as match travel demand jumps
The air fares are also soaring. And in the majority of the airlines, including IndiGo, the flights from Mumbai, Bengaluru or New Delhi that land in time for a cricket enthusiast to see the match are sold out for Sunday. Even for Saturday, airfare of a Bengaluru-Ahmedabad flight is as high as Rs 21,000.
“The airfares have increased by 50% to 75%,” observed Mohit Raval, owner of Haro Faro Tours and Travels. Mumbai-Ahmedabad flight that would be of Rs 3,500 or so on normal days is as high as Rs 15,000 on the previous day of the match, he said. Delhi-Ahmedabad fare is Rs 15,000 on the match day.
Even three-star hotels are giving dynamic prices, he said, adding that they are also providing drop and pick-up facilities to the guests to the NMS. Those in the travel industry are also providing cars to guests who want to reach Ahmedabad by road, he said.