The FIFA World Cup in Qatar led to resurgence in regional air travel within GCC, with UAE emerging as the winner, posting a 700 percent jump in airline bookings in the run up months to the event, industry insiders said.
Saudi, Oman and Kuwait are the other GCC countries which have seen a spike in air ticket bookings to Doha for the World Cup period.
“Dubai is the most popular destination for day trips to Qatar during the FIFA World Cup,” Atish Thapa, head-business development at Cleartrip, the leading online travel agency (OTA) in GCC and India, told Arabian Business.
“It is evident from the data from our platform that airline bookings from UAE to Qatar during the match period have increased seven times in recent months, compared to past months that did not have any travel restrictions [to Qatar],” Thapa said.
Thapa said Dubai is also the most popular among travellers heading to a follow-up destination after Qatar.
Senior executives at other travel services firms also said there was a surge in air travel bookings to Qatar for travel during the November 20-December 20 World Cup period.
They, however, said despite the spike in demand, airfares to Qatar from GCC cities were seeing a slight reduction of late because of the introduction of feeder flights.
“That [feeder flights] has eased the pressure on fares and significantly helps customers who get the passes in the second auction and hence are planning now,” an industry executive said.
Flydubai and Air Arabia are among many GCC airlines which have announced feeder services to Doha during the World Cup period.
Besides the GCC region, India is also seeing a big jump in World Cup-related air travel.
The Cleartrip senior executive said their platform registered a three-fold increase in bookings to Qatar from India in recent months.
“We think Word Cup-related bookings are the primary driver of these,” Thapa said.
Kochi and Kolkata in soccer-crazy states like Kerala and West Bengal, besides Bangalore, Delhi, and Mumbai are the top Indian cities from where people are travelling to Qatar and Dubai for watching the World Cup matches.
Besides scheduled flights and feeder services, several private jet and chartered flight operators also announced plans for special World Cup-related services both from GCC and India.
There was, however, no data available on their bookings.
Thapa said there were no World Cup-related charter flights data available with the firm, as Cleartrip was not yet facilitating those arrangements.
Industry insiders said charter flights are mostly used by participating teams and their WAGs – wives and girlfriends – besides big companies for their elite clients.
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