WC2007 Organisers expect 100,000 visitors!

According to a report on Cricinfo, tournament director Chris Dehring expects up to 100,000 visitors to flock to the Caribbean for the World Cup!

http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/wc20...ory/252432.html

A truly astonishing figure. What makes him think there will be even close to that many?

After all, according to a recent article by Derek Pringle in the Daily Telegraph, tour operators are reporting that bookings for the World Cup by England fans are outnumbered 7-1 by bookings for the Ashes. That's despite the fact that most people who go to the Ashes actually do so independently, rather than booking a tour package. By contrast, the Caribbean is a much more package tour-orientated, and a much higher percentage of those who go to the World Cup will do so on a package tour.

This apparent lack of interest in the World Cup definitely appears to be reflected on England fans' forums, where what little discussion there has been of the world cup has tended to focus on issues such as the way the WICB imposed a massive levy on tickets sold to England fans last time England toured there, making the cost of a ticket more expensive than the costliest seat at a Lord's Test Match! This outrageous and discriminatory levy was only announced after many people had already booked their flights, and the issue is a source of lasting resentment, with many people who felt obliged to pay the levy in 2004 vowing to stay away from the World Cup in 2007.

There is also deep disquiet about the ticketing system for the World Cup. Your credit card is debited when you order your tickets, but you don't actually find out whether your application has been successful until the end of August! It's possible in theory that the world cup organisers get to hang onto your money, (which all the while will be merrily gaining them interest), for several weeks and even months, despite your application for tickets having been unsuccessful!

Add to this the fact that the tournament is taking place in what is the Caribbean's peak tourist season, when accommodation is already heavily booked, and prices already sky-high anyway, as well as the fact that many hoteliers will be using the World Cup as an opportunity to hike their prices even further into uncharted territory. Factor in the high cost and low frequency of inter-island flights, and the fact that international airlines too seem to be charging what they like, not forgetting of course England's current dismal one day form, and World Cup 2007 starts to look distinctly unappealing to all but the very wealthiest England fans.

With England traditionally having by far the largest travelling support, in order to get anywhere near that figure of 100,000, you'd be needing to look at getting (at a rough guess) 40, 000 English out there. Thanks to the Great Cricket Australia Ticket Fiasco (don't start me on that one!), most estimates don't even now have that number of English going to the Ashes, a tour which is far more eagerly anticipated, and far, far cheaper for England fans than the World Cup, especially for those on a budget.

I have no doubt that there will be large numbers of people present at the World Cup from the Subcontinent, their numbers boosted heavily by expats from the Caribbean and North America. Australians will be there in numbers, as well, as will South Africans. The English will be there too, but the damage done to the reputation of the Caribbean as a tourist destination by high accommodation prices, the WICB's levy in 2004, and the organisers' ticket policy is likely to be very much in evidence, in terms of reduced numbers of English. The counter-attractions of the Ashes, and even the forthcoming winter tours of Sri Lanka and New Zealand will hold much more appeal to many England fans, and most simply don't have the time or money to do all four tours. They have to prioritise, and I really can't see an extremely expensive and almost certainly fruitless trip to the World Cup being very near the top of England fans' list of priorities when compared to the tours of Australia, Sri Lanka, and New Zealand.

Mr. Dehring's comments sound to me like those of a spin doctor, and those of us who live in Mr. Blair's Britain have plenty of experience of those.

"The reason there is a fear that there is not enough accommodation is because the demand for the World Cup in the Caribbean is so exceptionally high. The Caribbean is already a destination of choice around the world. It is one of the world's great tourist destinations. Putting the World Cup in the Caribbean only makes it a destination of unbridled desire."

Someone pass me the sickbag.

The truth (or otherwise) of his claims will start to be revealed in August when we get to see which matches (if any) have sold out, and how many people (if any) have missed out in the ticket ballot.

so I take it you're not going.

I was going to go but direct flights from the UK for the dates I wanted were in the region of £1200!

you expect to pay a little bit more but that's a 100% increase from normal flight prices. Haven't even looked at hotel prices after the shock of that but decided it's likely to be a huge fleecing operation from start to finish so best to give it a wide berth.

To be honest think it'll be a flop in terms of overseas visitors. Only England and India bring large contingents and if I was an England fan and had the choice I'd much rather watch the Ashes in Oz. I suspect this is what will happen.

Me and 5 friends were going to go but we just couldn't raise the money.

Real shame as it would have been a great holiday regardless of the cricket.

100,000 may seem like a lot but when you consider that's how many people live to one room in a country like India it doesn't seem so bad.

I was in a similar situation to Hash, just couldn't raise the money. Part of the allure of this world cup is that the Carribean is such a beautiful place and even if your team goes out early, there is a lot to see and do.

yeah and with so many people from different parts of the world it would have been like a festival.

1 those visitors will be me, along with some friends.

Hoepfully India will go all the way and like my dad did in the 83 world cup, hopefully I'll watch India at the very stadium lift the throphy aloft!.

No I'm not going, although I suppose in the hypothetical event of prices dropping to sensible levels, I might just consider taking my wife there for a week if she can get the time off. That's not likely to happen, of course, since it's peak holiday time in the Caribbean, and no matter how many people boycott the World Cup, or simply decide to spend their hard earned cash elsewhere, the flights and hotels will still be pretty expensive.

In St. Lucia, where England's group matches are, the government is allowing locals to put people up in their homes, which might be a good way of doing it on the cheap, and ensuring that the ordinary people of the Caribbean benefit from the World Cup, rather than just the multinational resort chains. The trouble is that as you point out, the airlines are charging what they like, and with all due respect to Kenya and Canada, England's matches there are hardly the most glamorous fixtures! (That's not to say that given England's current form they don't stand a chance of springing an upset.)

The other thing that put me off was you don't know where your team would be playing in the super 8 (I had hoped to watch the last week of the super 8s, the semis and the final).

For example would Pakistan retain the D1 seeding if they finished 2nd in the group. That would make planning a lot easier and I heard a rumour that was the case. It would make sense as otherwise there is no way you could book hotels in advance.

I emailed the organisers but got no response - I guess they still expect me to lash out £4-6k in total to watch it though!!!

I suspect other than nouveau riche indians not many people will go. Of course, tourists who were already going irrespective of cricket will probably spend a day watching it and it'll be deemed a success on that basis but I don't think you'll see masses of cricket tourists and also disgracefully many locals will also be priced out.

Personally, I dont think it wil be a success off the pitch.

The Windies are simply not known for their ability to organise big tournaments - the Germans know how to do it!

I can see there being massive infrastrure/logistical nightmares before & during the tournament.