The Rainbow Nation is hosting its biggest party to date, and everyone’s invited to have a go at the vuvuzelas this summer — except the Indians. The World Cup has brought in scores of fans from Europe and the Americas, but a majority of India’s holidaying crowd is bucking the trend by flocking to South-East Asia rather than South
Africa. Tour operators, who were hoping to cash in on the sports spectacle, have been left disappointed by the response for World Cup packages. “There were a lot of tourists going to South Africa the same time last year for the IPL, but the response just hasn’t been the same this year. Most of our customers are picking traditional tourist venues like Goa, South-East Asia and Switzerland,” says Cox & Kings India corporate communication head Thomas C. Thottathil.
Fifa’s official participating tour operator in India, Mumbai’s Cutting Edge Travels, say that while there has been a 4 to 5 per cent increase in traffic to South Africa, most of them are corporate customers and less of families.
According to official figures, 130,000 Indians visited Germany — venue for the previous World Cup edition — in 2006, up from 94,000 in 2005.
Football has grown popularity since then, and the recent TAM Media Research report says that the beautiful game has attracted 60 per cent more audiences in the last five years and three times the number of advertisers since 2005. “Among the non-cricket sports, football is at number one in India... there are 83 million football viewers in the country,” says the report.
So why has South Africa been snubbed this time?
“It has just become too expensive. Air tickets that were going in the range of Rs 14 to 17k for a one-way fare to Johannesburg back in February, have jumped to Rs 32k now all the way to July,” says a representative of Travelport India.
Even hotels have more than doubled their room rates anticipating a large demand by the Europeans and Americans. The Lonely Planet Travel Guide notes that some Johannesburg hotel prices have gone past $400 per night.
“A month back, you could finding hostel rooms from anywhere between 150 and 250 rand (approx $21 to $35) per night. Now the same rooms are priced at 650 to 750 rand (approx $93 to $107),” says the guide.
Not helping are the prices of packages that straightway rule out a big chunk of holidaying middle class. Cutting Edge Travels are offering a seven-night World Cup package upwards of Rs 4 lakh per person. That price includes tickets, return airfare, airport transfers and stay with breakfast, but not sightseeing or African safari.
“Indians want more bang for the buck and South Africa have lost the price advantage. In fact, we expect more people to travel there on a holiday post World Cup,” says Thottathil of Cox and Kings, one of the few major tour operators not offering a World Cup-centered package.