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NEW DELHI: There will be a sea of blue at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) this Sunday when India take on Pakistan – the Choti Diwali super thriller of the ongoing T20 World Cup Down Under. Indians have emerged as the single biggest buyers of tickets for the tournament outside the host continent.
“We sold just under 16,000 tickets to Indian residents, the most for any country outside Australiaahead of the UK and USA,” an official of the T20 World Cup Local Organizing Committee told TOI on Friday. Asked how many tickets have been sold so far, he added, “We will not disclose a figure at this stage do not, but we are expected to eight lakh attendance over the 45 matches of this event.”
Regular tickets for the India-Pakistan match were sold months in advance, with the maximum demand for ticket sales for the tournament coming from India.
“For the ICC World Cup, we expect 18-20,000 fans from India to travel to Australia this month and next. The biggest attraction was the India-Pak Sunday Blockbuster. This growth is mainly due to the tripling of direct flights between India and Australia. Pre-Covid there were eight flights a week by Air India and now this figure has gone up to 24 as Qantas has also started flights to Delhi and Bengaluru,” Nishant KashikarTourism Australia Country Manager (India and Golf), told TOI. Qantas resumed India non-stop after more than a decade.
Overall, the biggest resurgence in international arrivals to Australia has been from India after neighboring New Zealand since the continent opened up late last year. In April-August 2022, visitors from India reached 86% of the same period in pre-pandemic 2019. Now thanks to the “ICC T20 World Cup, holidays, weddings, honeymoons, visiting friends and family and returning from MICE (Meetings, Incentives), Conferences and Exhibitions) travel,” Australia hopes to break the record of 4 lakh visitors from India reach that seen in 2019 before the end of this calendar year.
“India is the largest medium to long-haul inbound source of travelers for Australia now, following the continent’s re-opening. Australia has consistently seen a 30% increase in visa applications (applications) from India week-on-week and forward bookings are very strong. India will be the first inbound market to recover to 2019 levels among all our source countries,” Kashikar said.
“We sold just under 16,000 tickets to Indian residents, the most for any country outside Australiaahead of the UK and USA,” an official of the T20 World Cup Local Organizing Committee told TOI on Friday. Asked how many tickets have been sold so far, he added, “We will not disclose a figure at this stage do not, but we are expected to eight lakh attendance over the 45 matches of this event.”
Regular tickets for the India-Pakistan match were sold months in advance, with the maximum demand for ticket sales for the tournament coming from India.
“For the ICC World Cup, we expect 18-20,000 fans from India to travel to Australia this month and next. The biggest attraction was the India-Pak Sunday Blockbuster. This growth is mainly due to the tripling of direct flights between India and Australia. Pre-Covid there were eight flights a week by Air India and now this figure has gone up to 24 as Qantas has also started flights to Delhi and Bengaluru,” Nishant KashikarTourism Australia Country Manager (India and Golf), told TOI. Qantas resumed India non-stop after more than a decade.
Overall, the biggest resurgence in international arrivals to Australia has been from India after neighboring New Zealand since the continent opened up late last year. In April-August 2022, visitors from India reached 86% of the same period in pre-pandemic 2019. Now thanks to the “ICC T20 World Cup, holidays, weddings, honeymoons, visiting friends and family and returning from MICE (Meetings, Incentives), Conferences and Exhibitions) travel,” Australia hopes to break the record of 4 lakh visitors from India reach that seen in 2019 before the end of this calendar year.
“India is the largest medium to long-haul inbound source of travelers for Australia now, following the continent’s re-opening. Australia has consistently seen a 30% increase in visa applications (applications) from India week-on-week and forward bookings are very strong. India will be the first inbound market to recover to 2019 levels among all our source countries,” Kashikar said.
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