World Cup mania: 9,000 football-crazy Kolkatans go to Qatar, extra to journey forward of ultimate match

The euphoria surrounding this yr’s FIFA World Cup has been ”unprecedented” in football-mad Kolkata, with practically 9,000 followers having already travelled to Qatar to witness the showpiece occasion and plenty of extra slated to reach within the subsequent few days, officers stated.

Persons are nonetheless making queries concerning ticket and lodging availability and journey packages for Qatar, days forward of the semi-finals and the ultimate subsequent week, they stated.

”Round 10,000-12,000 soccer followers have travelled to Qatar from jap India to date, together with near 9,000 folks from Kolkata. Persons are nonetheless very eager to make it to the semis and the ultimate, and we count on not less than one other 1,500 Kolkatans to go to the Arab nation,” Anil Punjabi, jap area head of Journey Brokers’ Federation of India (TAFI), informed PTI.

Although the craze for the enterprise finish of the world cup has died all the way down to an extent following the exit of giants reminiscent of Brazil and Portugal, Argentina’s advance to the semi-finals is cause sufficient for a lot of of Kolkata’s soccer lovers to pack their luggage for Qatar.

”It is all about Messi this time as it will likely be his final world cup. I had made up my thoughts months in the past that if Argentina progresses to the semis, I’ll head to Qatar. Who is aware of, I would truly see Messi lifting the coveted trophy, which might be an unreal expertise,” Subham Mitra, a resident of Lake Gardens, stated.

Mitra stated he’ll depart for Doha (Qatar capital) within the early hours of Monday. The typical return fare to Doha prices round Rs 55,000-60,000 at current.

Argentina will tackle Croatia within the first semi-final on Wednesday.

”Kolkata’s soccer frenzy for this version of the world cup has been unprecedented due to two essential components — direct flights to Qatar, and the urge to journey extra put up the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly throughout main world occasions,” Punjabi stated.

The senior TAFI official additionally stated Qatar will flip into a preferred journey vacation spot for folks of east India, courtesy of the world cup. ”Qatar wasn’t among the many sought-after vacationer spots earlier than the mega occasion, however the sporting spectacle has added nice worth to the place and we count on that an increasing number of folks will add it to their must-visit listing,” Punjabi added.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)