The IPL 2026 final in Ahmedabad on Sunday is triggering the kind of travel frenzy usually reserved for long weekends, weddings and discounted iPhone sales.
Match tickets are nearly sold out days before the final, while hotel bookings and airfares have shot up sharply as fans scramble to secure seats at the 132,000-capacity Narendra Modi Stadium — or at least somewhere within shouting distance of it.
Travel industry executives said airfares on key sectors such as Delhi-Ahmedabad and Bengaluru-Ahmedabad have doubled. Raja Sharma, managing partner of Kabra Travel Services, said premium economy and business class seats on flights timed close to the match are already sold out on several routes.
“One-way fares from Bengaluru have touched over Rs 22,800 on some flights, against the usual Rs 6,000-8,000,” Sharma said, proving once again that IPL finals can make even airlines believe in aggressive strokeplay.
Dynamic Pricing
Hotels in Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar are also witnessing heavy demand. Vikas Sood, general manager of The Leela, Gandhinagar, said the hotel would provide transport services for guests travelling to the stadium, located about 20 minutes away. Room tariffs at the property start from around Rs 14,000 per night.
Vikas Khazanchi, vice-president (operations) at The Forum Hotel in Ahmedabad, said the property was following “dynamic pricing”, though hikes would remain within a reasonable range — a phrase hotel guests may interpret differently while checking out. The hotel’s room tariffs, usually between Rs 6,000 and Rs 16,000 plus taxes, have risen amid strong demand.
Around 85% of rooms at The Leela, Gandhinagar, and nearly 50% at The Forum Hotel had already been booked two days before the final, officials said.
Kaustuva Mukherjee, associate vice-president of The Pride Group of Hotels, said demand had been “phenomenal”, especially at properties near the stadium. “At our three-star property near the stadium, tariffs that are usually Rs 3,500 plus taxes are now nearly ten times higher,” he said. At Pride Plaza on SG Highway, room rates have doubled from the usual Rs 7,000-plus level.
Industry estimates suggest Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar together have over 7,500 hotel rooms across categories, with most budget and three-star properties near the stadium already fully booked. At this point, even distant relatives in Ahmedabad may suddenly find themselves very popular.
Sources said some residents are renting out studio apartments near the venue for Rs 2,000 or more, while others are offering short-duration stays for fans wanting to freshen up before or after the match.
Digital Scramble
Travel operators also expect a large influx of fans arriving by road because of expensive or unavailable flight tickets. Sharma said demand for return travel immediately after the match generally pushes transport costs to about one-and-a-half times the normal rate.
Meanwhile, IPL final tickets, which start from Rs 2,500 for upper-tier stands and go up to Rs 25,000 for the President’s Gallery, are nearly sold out on the official website.
Ahmedabad-based businessman Raj Patel said getting tickets online remains difficult. “After waiting for more than 45 minutes on the website, you may still get only one ticket,” he said — making it easier, perhaps, to predict the Orange Cap winner than secure seats for the final.
Social media platforms are also flooded with resale offers, with tickets reportedly being sold at nearly five times their original prices. Police had arrested black marketeers ahead of the IPL finals in 2022 and 2025, as well as before the T20 World Cup final earlier this year.