With the exit of Pakistan and India staring at a similar fate, the euphoria of the Caribbean experience has lost its fizz overnight.

Ever since Saturday, travel and tour companies have been inundated with calls from upset fans who are no longer interested in the World Cup package tour they had booked months ago.

“If they couldn’t even beat Bangladesh, Australia will make mincemeat out of them,” says a disappointed 35-year-old Sanjeev Mendiratta from Sion, who had planned a West Indies trip with five of his friends. “Now, we’re planning to go to Malaysia for the F1, but three friends have dropped out from the trip altogether.”

Of the around 6,000 people expected to visit the West Indies from India, most had planned their itinerary around the match venues. But that could all change now.

“Indians are emotional people and in case our team crashes out, cancellations could go up to almost forty per cent. The travel industry will definitely take a big hit if things don’t pick up,” says Javed Akhtar, CEO Travelport.

While insiders say cancellations are easier said than done — with the money already put into hotel bookings, visas, airline confirmations and sundry advance preparations — travel companies are now looking at value-additions to entice travellers to still make the trip. With the packages costing anything between Rs2.5 lakh to Rs6 lakh per person, there’s a lot of money at stake.

“As the biggest official travel agent for the ICC, we have reservations for 600 people. We had expected 400 more but that could be difficult now,” says Shyam Kartikeya, SOTC.

By Saumit Singh