Travel companies in India and UAE offer tour packages for IPL fans

Fans willing to travel have been snapping up offers that include visas, flights, hotels, transport to and from the stadiums as well as tours of Dubai complete with desert safari and dhow cruise. Some even offer the much sought after match tickets.

DUBAI // Tour companies in India are cashing in on cricket fever ahead of the start of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in the UAE.

They are offering packages to fans eager to see their favourite teams play in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

Fans willing to travel have been snapping up offers that include visas, flights, hotels, transport to and from the stadiums, and tours of Dubai complete with desert safari and a dhow cruise. Some firms even offer the much sought-after match tickets.

“We are offering a minimum of three nights’ stay,” said Nalin Sharma, a sales representative of Holiday Travel in Chandigarh, a city in north India.

“We offer air tickets, hotel stay, sightseeing and visas. We also drop off and pick up from stadiums.”

The UAE is hosting the first phase of the seventh IPL, one of the world’s richest sporting leagues, from Wednesday. Twenty matches will be played over two weeks in Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah.

Mr Sharma said his company’s travel packages start from Dh2,740. They went on sale as soon as the IPL tour of the UAE was announced.

“It was an opportunity for us to capture the market. We have had a lot of enquiries,” he said.

Staff at another travel company, in Haryana in north India, said they were hoping their packages would be a hit with Indian cricket fans.

“It is a special gift for cricket lovers to make the trip enjoyable for them as well as for their loved ones,” said Deepak Malguri, a sales representative of Lush Trip, whose packages start at Dh1,200 per person.

Mr Malguri said Lush Trip would try to arrange IPL tickets for its clients.

Tour companies in the UAE have not been slow to tap into the IPL mania either.

Lama Tours has bookings for 2,500 people, mostly from Delhi, and expect this number to reach 8,000 in the coming days.

“It is the first time here that cricket is being watched for entertainment rather than as a game,” said Kulwant Singh, the managing director of Lama Tours, whose packages start at Dh735.

“The response has been fantastic and we have a lot of groups coming to Dubai from Wednesday. Some of them who were planning trips elsewhere have changed their plans and are coming to see the games in the UAE.”

Lama Tours has bought about 1,700 tickets for its clients, particularly for the games on Friday, Saturday and April 28 in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Mr Singh said his company had arranged UAE visas for 800 people who are part of the IPL, including players and team members. It has also arranged desert safaris for many of the cricketers and their teammates.