Flight fares to Dharamsala soar ahead of T20 matches

Tribune News Service

Lalit Mohan

Dharamsala, February 25

Airfares from Delhi to Dharamsala and Chandigarh to Dharamsala have skyrocketed for tomorrow (February 26) because of two India Sri Lanka T-20 matches being played here.

The airfare for Chandigarh to Dharamsala Air India flight has gone up to Rs 19,700 for February 26 for one-way trip, while the airfare from Delhi to Dharamsala has risen to Rs 23,753. Sources here said that expecting greater demand due to the T-20 matches being organized at the HPCA international cricket stadium on February 26 and 27, the airline companies have hiked flight rates to Dharamsala.

The airfares from Delhi to Dharamsala flights were earlier hovering between Rs 4,500 and Rs 9,000 for way flight and the fare was from Rs 2500 to Rs 4000 for Chandigarh to Delhi flights. Flights to Dharamsala were being operated by Air India and SpiceJet.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka and India cricket teams arrived in Dharamsala today. The Sri Lanka team arrived in the morning while Indian team reached in the afternoon. The teams are staying in the HPCA hotel and would not be allowed to go around in city. The HPCA spokesperson said that teams would remain in bio bubble due to the Covid pandemic.

The HPCA has been allowed to conduct matches with 50 per cent occupancy of spectators. The Dharamsala international cricket stadium has the capacity to accommodate 24,000 spectators. The HPCA and BCCI has been allowed to sell tickets to about 10,000 spectators and remaining 2,000 tickets are likely to go complimentary for HPCA members and others.

The administration has put into effect the traffic management plan for match days, February 26 and 27 in the city.

90 per cent tickets sold

Till Friday, about 90 per cent tickets for the matches were sold. However, the matches do not seem to have brought many tourists to Dharamsala. General secretary of hotel association Sanjeev Gandhi said there had been hardly 20 per cent bookings in hotels for the weekend.

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