The author has posted comments on this articleTasmayee Laha Roy & Ravi Teja Sharma, ET Bureau | Feb 9, 2015, 12.54PM IST

While Tourism Australia said about 6,000 Indians will travel for the world cup, the Australian High Commission here said the number of tourist visa applications received this January was 37% higher than the same month last year.

"These sports events are the new holiday (and) travel destinations of well-heeled Indians, especially the superrich," said T C Guruprasad, managing director at Centrum Direct, which has processed around 500 visas for Australia for the world cup through its travel arm Club7 Holidays. "For a minimum one match holiday people are spending close to Rs 1.5 lakh whereas those planning an Australian holiday around the matches are spending up to Rs 12 lakh," he added. READ ALSO: World Cup calls Indian fans pad up to visit Australia

Dr B N Raghukumar, a doctor based in Mumbai, will take a 12-day tour of Australia with seven family members. Not only has he booked the best seats inside the stadium for the India-Pakistan match on February 15, but also ensured top hotels for stay. "Centrum helped me customise our holiday around the India-Pakistan match and let us choose hotels of our choice like Palazzo Versace at Gold Coast (Queensland), Four Seasons in Sydney and Crowne Plaza in Melbourne," he said. The group is spending Rs 25.69 lakh in all.

While Tourism Australia said about 6,000 Indians will travel for the world cup, the Australian High Commission here said the number of tourist visa applications received this January was 37% higher than the same month last year.

"There isn't a huge demand, but it is surely better than the usual demand for Australia," said Mayank Khandwala, co-founder of Mumbai-based Cutting Edge Travels, one of the official travel agents for the ICC Cricket World Cup.

He said school board exams in the country almost coinciding with match dates has turned out to be a bit of a dampener.

Cutting Edge Travels will send between 500 and 800 people for the World Cup, Khandwala said. "This would include individual travellers as well as people being sent by corporates such as Reliance Communications, Samsung, LG, Greenply, HDFC Bank and others."

Some corporates are sending top performing retailers, distributors and dealers. Centrum, too, is organising holiday for a MICE group of 600 people to Australia and New Zealand for three clients with a grand launch on the eve of the India-South Africa match.

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ICC World Cup brings bonanza for travel cos as 6,000 Indians fly to Australia