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Who wouldn't want to watch Sachin Tendulkar get his hundredth hundred at the famed Boxing Day Test Match at Melbourne on December 26?
Online travel portal Yatra has stumbled upon a deliciously baited hook to draw people on tour packages to Australia. The craze for cricket and the Little Master's huge fan following.
Last year, the portal had no tour packages to Australia. This December, it is offering six and all have almost sold out.
But it's not individuals who are lapping it up — rather it is the corporate sector. Travel companies like Yatra.com are leveraging the upcoming three month long cricket bonanza in Australia to promote the growing Meetings Incentives Conferences Exhibitions (MICE) segment among Indian corporates. Between December 2011 and March 2012, Australia will host the India vs Australia Vodafone test series, the Commonwealth Bank Series One day Internationals featuring India, Sri Lanka and Australia, as well as the KFC International Twenty 20 series.
Mr Neeraj Dev, head of Yatra's Outbound Travel division, says the company has seen a 15 to 20 per cent jump in demand for travel to Australia. He ascribes this to interest in cricket reaching a feverish pitch coupled with the country's steadily growing popularity as a tourist destination. “The fact that is peak holiday season for outbound travel has tipped the scales in Australia's favour,” he adds.
Yatra is offering six tailor-made packages for the cricket season built around popular Australian cities of Sydney and Gold Coast.
Also riding the cricket wave is SOTC Sports of the Kuoni Travel Group India, which has been promoting packages for all the series to be played out Down Under. The company which is the authorised distributor of match ticket and accommodation packages for Cricket Australia Travel Office is also planning to roll out its marketing pitch soon.
Mr S.D. Nandakumar Head SIT and Business Development Outbound Division Kuoni India, says, “We have floated various packages in the market and would be soon running some radio campaign and print campaigns regionally.”
“The demand for the opening day Boxing Day Test to be held at Melbourne on October 26 is slow due to it being at peak travel season. The rates of airlines and hotels are very high during this period. But we are getting high demands for ODI tri series between India, Sri Lanka and Australia and T20 matches between India and Sri Lanka all to be held in Australia in February and March,” he added.
According to Mr Nandakumar, “Demand is mostly from corporate customers who are designing incentive packages for groups around these matches. Retail clients are keener to see matches scheduled during February and March.”
Mr Dev added: “If the average Indian cricket fan has to go to Australia he or she has to plan 60 days in advance for a trip cost starting at Rs one lakh so not many fans are able to book in the spur of the moment and go.” On the other hand, he notes, corporates who are involved in sponsoring cricket events as part of their branding and marketing strategy, are lapping up the demand under MICE. “We have received about 2,000 to 3,000 bookings from this segment alone,” he says.
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