ICC World Cup to drive up hotel, airline fares by 150%, 80%: Jefferies

Fare for selective hotels and flights can shoot up by an average of 150 percent and 80 percent, respectively on the ICC Cricket World Cup 2023 match days, according to a report by Jefferies. “The World Cup event is coinciding with the seasonally strong 3Q for the hospitality industry. We checked hotel/flight rates across the venues for matches featuring India and find average rates for the match days up by 150%/80% for select hotels/flights compared to the week prior to match day with some rates up to the extent of 13x/5x. For non-India match days, fares escalation is lower vs normal days,” it stated.

Also read: ODI World Cup 2023: Hotel and flight costs have surged around match dates

Airlines are expected to see a surge in fares as well.

The event, to be held between October 5 and November 19, is returning to India after 12 years. The 46-day international tournament will see the participation of 10 countries, and five matches each will be held in Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Dharamsala, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai and Pune, while Hyderabad will host three matches.

The demand is being felt most deeply in the major cites but it has spread out to the smaller cities as well.

Also read: ICC ODI World Cup 2023: A look at all 10 venues

The analysts wrote, “While major cities are seeing very significant increases in hotel rates, our interactions at Hotels in small cities like Dharamsala suggest that rooms are completely sold out for multiple days.”

They added, “The rooms are booked for players, support staff, cricket board officials, media etc. apart from booking from spectators. Our checks with reservation desks of many hotels in bigger cities also indicate that occupancies for match days are already running high which has resulted in rates rising sharply and rates are likely to mostly increase further closer to match dates.”

Room demand on the up

While the October-November festival season causes demand to peak for airlines, the demand for hotels peaks later. But this time, matches are keeping demand for hotels buoyant for longer, noted the analysts.

The report stated, “The peak occupancy days for airlines are during festival seasons when rates go up sharply whereas for hotels the 2nd half of Dec are days of peak occupancy/higher rates. With the World Cup matches coinciding with the festive period, the hospitality industry is slated to benefit from the same. Hotels in business centers tend to see lower occupancies during festival days, but World Cup matches this year are fueling occupancy/rates even during festive days.”