IPL 2024: Flight, hotel bookings surge as cricket lovers travel across India for matches

More Indians are travelling to watch IPL2024 matches, resulting in higher travel demand.

The 17th season of the Indian Premier League (IPL) has recorded higher demand for travel among Indians this year, thus surpassing 2023 bookings.

Flight bookings have surged by up to 20-25 percent, while hotel bookings have seen an increase of 15-20 percent, said Rikant Pitti, Co-Founder, EaseMyTrip, an online travel aggregator (OTA).

"Travellers are making last-minute bookings, with most bookings occurring within 0-3 days before match days," he added.

Host city Mumbai saw the maximum number of flight and hotel searches in April 2024, said OTA Ixigo.

IPL 2024 began from March 22 and the final match will be played on May 26.

"India is experiencing a surge in sports tourism, with IPL matches being held across multiple cities across the country. This year's IPL season has surpassed the previous year in terms of travel demand. Bookings for attending these matches have surged by approximately 20-25 percent, reflecting the enthusiasm of fans eager to witness the action live. This surge in travel bookings is expected to contribute positively to tourism industries across the host cities," said Pitti.

The top five host cities with the maximum number of flight and hotel searches include Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai, according to Ixigo data.

"The cities seeing an increase in passenger arrivals include Mumbai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Chennai. During match days, these cities have witnessed a notable rise in traffic on a month-on-month basis, with Chennai seeing a 33 percent increase, Lucknow witnessing a 29 percent surge, Ahmedabad showing a 14 percent uptick, and Hyderabad experiencing a 20 percent rise," Pitti said.

The highest volume of redirects occurred between Bengaluru and New Delhi, with Mumbai also showing an increase in bookings to New Delhi, noted Mohit Joshi, travel and destinations expert at Skyscanner, a travel agency.

He also gave some tips for better travel planning for IPL matches.

"Flights don’t have to be booked as returns; we recommend mixing and matching the airlines you choose to fly with, to get a better deal. If there is a choice to fly from a different airport at a lower fee, consider taking that option and to take a short drive from there instead, to score cheaper deals," he said.

Joshi said that according to their recent analysis, the majority of Indian travellers are prepared to increase their travel budgets for live cricket experiences.

"We witnessed a significant uptick of around 46 percent in travel demand based on flight searches in March when the season started as compared to the previous month," he added.

The IPL coinciding with the summer season is an added advantage, resulting in extended stays at the hotel with family and friends, said Tejus Jose, Director of Operations at ibis & ibis Styles India, which is recording significant uptick in bookings due to IPL matches.

The hotel is decked up with cricket-themed décor, big live screens so that customers don't miss a moment of any game.

He said that the hotel chain is recording higher occupancy than the occupancy rate it had registered before the start of the IPL.

Increased travel has also contributed to the significant rise in GST collections in April.

"The spike in GST can also be attributed to travel to watch IPL matches on ground. Hotels are overbooked, so are the flights and this must have contributed to GST collections," said Rajiv Mehra, President, Indian association of tour operators, (IATO).