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| India vs Pakistan: Hotel and flight fares rise hundreds of fold in Ahmedabad despite expected schedule change |
In this year's Cricket World Cup, the match between India and Pakistan was scheduled for October 15 in Ahmedabad, but because the same day is the first day of the Hindu festival Navratri, the date of the match is expected to change.
According to the website 'Cricinfo', the announcement of the final date of the match between India and Pakistan is expected by the ICC by the end of this week.
According to local media in India, the Ahmedabad police feared that security arrangements could be difficult on the first day of Navratri with the match between India and Pakistan. The ICC had written to the Pakistani board regarding these concerns.
According to the schedule released by the ICC in June, this year's biggest cricket match was scheduled for October 15, after which several hundred were spent on local flights as well as hotel fares on the day of the match in Ahmedabad several months ago. The percentage has increased.
The demand for the World Cup final is not the same as for the India-Pakistan match.
The ICC World Cup will be played in India from October 5 to November 19. The match between traditional rivals India and Pakistan will be played at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad.
It is expected to be the most-watched match of the World Cup. The opening and final matches of the World Cup will also be played in the same stadium in Ahmedabad, which has a capacity of more than one lakh fans.
According to experts, the demand to watch the big match between India and Pakistan is many times more than the opening match and the final of the World Cup.
A day before the match on October 14, the fare for flights from Mumbai and Delhi to Ahmedabad has gone up between Rs 15,000 and Rs 22,000, which is usually Rs 3,000 to Rs 4,000.
The same is the case with flights from Jaipur, Cochin, and Bangalore to Ahmedabad. October 14 and 15 flights have increased manifold.
Nishant Patti, head of the travel agency 'Ez My Trip', has given a statement to the Indian media that 'the number of people who know the ticket details about the cities where the World Cup matches are going to be held has increased tremendously.'
The average fare for a one-way flight from Delhi to Ahmedabad is around Rs 5,000. In October this year, the fare of Indigo flights reached 12 thousand and Vistara reached 22 thousand rupees.
He says that this increase is more than 100%. As the matches get closer, it will increase more in line with supply and demand.
A Kishan Mohan, head of another travel company, says that the fares for flights from Delhi to Ahmedabad may increase several times by the end of September and a major reason for this is the India-Pakistan match.
In a statement given to the newspaper Times of India, travel agent Virender Shah said that the demand for the opening match of the World Cup on October 5 and the final on November 19 is not the same as that seen for the match between India and Pakistan.
Due to the extraordinary interest of the fans in the match between India and Pakistan, the rents of hotels and guesthouses in Ahmedabad also increased drastically in October.
A night's rent in luxury hotels up to 50 thousand rupees
In some news received from Ahmed Abar, it has been mentioned that the one-night rent of some hotels has increased up to five times.
According to Nishant, since the dates and venue of the match have been officially announced, the one-night hotel rent has increased up to five times. Some luxury hotels are charging up to 50 thousand rupees for one night.
According to reports, all the rooms in Ahmedabad's Marriott, Hilton, and Taj Skyline luxury hotels have been booked for the 15th. And there are no rooms available for this date. On October 15, the rent of many hotel rooms reached 90 thousand rupees.
The news agency ANI has written concerning Gujarat's Saurashtra Chamber of Commerce President Nalan Zaveri, "A large number of people will come from foreign countries to watch this match."
The hotels in Ahmedabad have a maximum capacity of 132,000 people. This will mean a significant difference in demand and supply.
On the same day of the match, there is also a big Hindu festival 'Navratri' due to which the demand for flights has increased.
Sports analyst Jaswinder Sidhu says no other game creates the frenzy that the India-Pakistan cricket match does. "It shows that the people of both the countries want the two teams to play cricket but the two countries are not even talking to each other. This is a very strange situation. Both teams want to win against each other but are reluctant to play.
He says that both are playing only in big matches. It is beyond my understanding why India cannot play in Pakistan or why the Pakistan team cannot come to India. I think India's politics is such that they feel that if we play with Pakistan, it will be unfavorable for us.
According to Jaswinder Sidhu, the India-Pakistan match is very entertaining. The whole world enjoys it. Its impact is huge. What's wrong with playing back-to-back series when you're all set to do it?'
Currently getting match tickets along with flight and hotel rooms is also a big challenge. But cricket fans go through all the hardships