pune kothrud resident sameer kulkarni and his six friends are all set to travel to doha next week for the fifa world cupthis time the tournament is very near to india and we couldnt have missed it we shall watch two matches on november 25 and november 26 and return each of us has had to pay a flight fare of around rs38000 in addition to the tickets cost we are really excited kulkarni saidsimilarly kondhwas arshad khan has been frantically looking for some more people who could join him in qatar for the tournament i have got the tickets for a match on november 23 i just want some people who can join me so that we can travel in a group he saidwith the stage set for the footballs mightiest to clash puneites have big plans for the games according to citybased travel companies there has been a big spike in the number of queries and bookings to doha or dubaimehboob sheikh the chairman of the pune chapter of travel agents association of india told toi that queries were coming frequently many people have booked their tickets while many are enquiring about the fares for the later stages of the tournament the airfares are high but we dont think it is for the world cup doha is a major transit point for those travelling to different european destinations sheikh saidindiver rastogi the president and group head global business travel at thomas cook india and sotc travel said the demand surge was significant in pune pent up demand is driving strong interest for sports tourism especially for the fifa world cup we are witnessing a significant surge in demand for qatar from sports enthusiasts and millennials in pune airfares to doha from the november 19 to december 10 period are costlier by approximately 2030 compared to regular fares from various hubs like mumbai pune delhi he saidnilesh bhansali the director of travel agents association of pune said people heading to dubai for vacations were now trying to tailor it so that they could be in doha for a day or two for the tournament they want to change their package and include both doha and dubai airfares have seen a jump of around 3040 and expected to increase more one can reach doha from pune in around three to four hours and people want to take its advantage for those planning holidays in europe the high airfares to dubai and doha is bad news because both are major transit points he saidkiran patel a working professional said he would go to doha in the later stage of the tournament i dont have tickets for any matches but my brother stays in doha and i just want to go to the city to see the environment and probably catch a glimpse of stars like lionel messi or christiano ronaldo if by chance i get to see a match it will just be icing on the cake i flew to doha