World Cup 2023: Flight searches up 15% for inbound travel, highest demand from Australia

India is seeing uptick in inbound travel due to ICC Men's cricket World Cup 2023

The upcoming ICC Men's Cricket World Cup 2023 is seeing an increased influx from top cricketing nations including the UK,  Australia, the Netherlands, New Zealand and Sri Lanka.

Australia shows a 31 percent increase in searches to India for departure dates in October as compared to September, according to Booking.com, which is the official accommodations booking partner of the tournament. It added that England has shown a 10 percent increase in searches to India for the same period.

"Mega sporting events, such as the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup  2023 have a strong potential to bring together fans from all over the world, fostering a sense of shared enthusiasm. Travel booking data reveals a significant rise in inbound travel, with flight searches from cricketing nations to India showing a 15 percent year-on-year growth with departures between October 1 and November 20, 2023," Santosh Kumar, Country Manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Booking.com, told Moneycontrol.

On the domestic front, Delhi-Ahmedabad and Mumbai-Ahmedabad are the top searched routes for October 13 and 14, the data noted.

"India versus Pakistan cricket match is fuelling a notable spike in air travel searches for the host city. Ahmedabad, the host city for the match, has soared to the second-highest searched routes for October 13 and 14, surpassing its traditional standing. Ahmedabad barely makes it to the top 20 route on a normal day," Kumar said.

Seven out of the 10 most searched destinations from October 1, 2023, to November 20, 2023, are the host cities of the ICC Men’s World Cup 2023. The top searched accommodation types in India for the said period are hotels, resorts, homestays, guest houses and apartments.

"In a lot of cities, there is not enough supply so the demand is spilling out to alternative accommodations like villas and homestays. The budget hotel segment is increasing supply and there is an influx of new supply in the alternative accommodations segment as there are homeowners who are renting out their properties. OYO has 500 new listings that they are putting in place coinciding with the World Cup. Globally, supply has grown by 10 percent in 2023 versus 2022 (on Booking.com). We have about 28 million listings out of which seven million listings are in the alternative accommodations segment. Alternative accommodation segment is growing faster than the traditional segment," he said.

The travel firm also noted that more than half or 56 percent of Indians are looking forward to attending a major event, including sports tournaments, this year.

“Sports tourism is a rapidly growing sector in India and events like the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023 hold immense potential for boosting tourism in the host cities. Also, 93 percent of cricket fans are in India hence, we see a lot of potential in the country. It is good to see that travellers from across the world are visiting India during this momentous time in cricket history,” Kumar said.