Tens of thousands to fly in for World Cup despite high airfares

Early planning enabled the duo to keep costs relatively low, despite the sky-high travel costs.

“We have been saving for this trip and have sacrificed other trips to make this work for us financially,” said Via, who spent up to 50 hours planning and budgeting.

The couple is part of a cohort of about 55,000 foreign visitors forecast to travel to Australia over the two-month competition, according to Football Australia, injecting up to $169 million into the Australian economy through direct spend.

Sarah Erbe from New Jersey, USA will visit six cities and take nine flights over the course of the tournament, in what will be her second Women’s World Cup.

She, too, has devised ways to make the big trip across the Pacific a possibility amid global financial headwinds.

“I set up flight alerts, tracked the pricing trends, and booked on strategic days to get the best airfare deals... I’ve spent a little over $US3000 [$4360] on flights,” said Erbe.

With more than a billion viewers expected to tune into the games from around the world, the overall social and economic benefit of hosting is estimated to be worth $568 million.

While bookings and ticket sales continue to signal healthy demand, there’s good news for Australian fans still keen to get to a match.

No games have sold out yet, say FIFA, who are now urging fans to not be put off by games labelled ‘allocation exhausted’, with new ticket releases on the way.

Flight and hotel costs also remain relatively stable, according to travel platform Kayak.

“Airfares to Melbourne and Sydney around the major soccer matches in July and August have seen minimal to no increase compared to 2022,” said Kayak Australian country director Abhijit Mishra.

Return economy flights to both cities from anywhere in Australia during this period are under $300 on average.

“Hotels during the tournament period have seen minimal increases since last year – certain dates have even decreased,” said Mishra.

A combination of the tournament taking place across a historically quieter travel period, and an influx of new hotels in the last 12 months, has resulted in lots of empty hotel rooms for last-minute attendees.

Michael Johnston, chief executive of Accommodation Australia said occupancy in Sydney and Melbourne is still sitting around 60 and 50 per cent respectively.

“The rooms around Sydney Olympic Park will be fully booked, which is great ... but there’s still plenty of availability for those coming from interstate or intrastate,” said Johnston.

Those still looking to travel to matches without spending a fortune should book in the later stages of the competition, according to Wotif managing director Daniel Finch.

“High demand is mostly concentrated throughout the knockout stage of the tournament, so if you’re hoping to keep costs down, you might find a better deal if you opt for a game during the group stages,” said Finch.

Australian host cities will also be rolling out a number of FIFA-sanctioned fan hubs and sponsored live sites to watch the games.

In Sydney, Darling Harbour’s Tumbalong Park will host the city’s official FIFA Fan Festival with a roster of live music, match broadcasts, the country’s first FIFA Museum, and festival food including pioneering Sydney chef Josh Niland’s exclusive tuna cheeseburger.

Melbourne will also launch a month-long FIFA Fan Festival at Federation Square, with a program of live entertainment, panel discussions and family-friendly activities.

A number of local councils have already signed up to broadcast some or all of the matches for free, joining hundreds of pubs and other venues who will be streaming the games.

Howard Rees, head of sport at Optus, has seen huge demand from venue operators to stream the games.

“With more and more venues signing up, it’s clear that Aussies’ excitement for the tournament is building,” said Rees.

WHERE TO WATCH THE WOMEN’S WORLD CUP