Buy now before World Cup prices rocket

By James O’Connor

Fans who plan on travelling to the Rugby World Cup next year are advised to book now before prices are “doubled and tripled”.

The tournament kicks off in Japan next September, and TravelAgent.ie’s Ken Donnellan expects huge demand from Irish supporters.

“The rush is on now, because return flights to Japan were made available in the past week. Before that you could only get a one-way flight, so now is the most cost-friendly time for accommodation and flights. The cheapest in everything will always be bought first, because once demand starts to rise after Christmas, the airline and accommodation prices will shoot up, especially considering it’s a World Cup.

“What we’re advertising is flights and accommodation for 10 nights during the quarter and semi-finals for €2,490 per person, but you’ll find a lot of people will extend their stay to two or three weeks, because they now have money in their pockets.

The reason to book soon is because, if you secure your flights and trip now, you only have to pay the deposit and then you have plenty of scope next year to gradually pay the rest of the sum, the total isn’t needed until about eight weeks before the trip.

After their historic win against the All Blacks on Saturday on home soil, Ireland are more fancied than ever for World Cup glory, but Donnellan says that interest in travelling would be huge no matter what the circumstance.

“Ireland having a chance in Japan hasn’t really made a difference to interest or sales. You have the fanatics that are guaranteed to be going no matter what, and also people will have been planning this trip for years, so the moment they get a chance they’ll have it booked.

“The fact that the World Cup is in Japan hasn’t been negative at all, because it’s something different.

People look on it as a chance to see Japan and make a holiday out of it.

“What you will find is a lot of people will ring in February and March, but by then the flights and accommodation will be completely gone. The travel agents will have all of that bought, so if your thinking of going, now is your best chance.

“The soccer World Cup was just as popular, it didn’t matter that Ireland weren’t in it, people would just go over for the occasion and the atmosphere. It’s not often you get the chance to go to these events.”