MUMBAI: The Indian team’s win over Bermuda has done little to calm the domestic travel industry’s fears. Faced with calls from customers who now fear their itinerary in the Windies might not include a dekko on the men-in-blue, the travel companies are hoping for an Indian win over Sri Lanka on Friday.

In fact, cricket’s loss might be motor sports’ gain. Some Indian tourists are believed to have cancelled the World Cup trip and have instead asked to be booked for the upcoming Formula One race in Malaysia in April.

“After India’s loss to Bangladesh, there has been a setback. We have got calls from customers who want to know about cancellation procedures. But everyone is waiting for the Sri Lanka match to take a call,” said TravelPort CEO Javed Akkhtar. The company has been sub-contracted to sell packages.

In fact, the company has till now sold about 75 of the 200 packages it has on offer and was expecting a rise in bookings after Indian team’s progress to the second round of the tournament. “It is a trend that has been seen in the last two World Cups. In South Africa too, the numbers increased after the team inched towards semi-finals,” adds Mr Akkhtar.

SOTC, one of the official travel and hospitality partners for the World Cup, has got about 600 bookings and is hoping to sell up to 1,000 packages. But after the Bangladesh debacle, the calls have been fewer.

“There has been no cancellations, West Indies is a tourist destination in itself. But yes, the number of enquiries has reduced from an average of five per day to one on Tuesday,” said Shyam Kartikeya, business head of SOTC’s sport abroad programme.

About 6,000 Indians are expected to visit West Indies for the World Cup and almost all the bookings are for the Super Eight round. Though this is half the number of fans who travelled to the last edition in South Africa, the heavy tag on packages to West Indies means that the travel industry gets to pocket about Rs 200 crore from the packages itself.

But that would depend on the performance of Dravid and his boys on Friday. If the team falls short, the travel companies might be forced to give major concessions. Mr Kartikeya though is more hopeful. “We have already got bookings for semi-finals and final. So not everybody is waiting for India’s performance,” he says.