England fans planning trip of a lifetime to World Cup 2010
Travel agents today reported a surge in bookings to watch England in the World Cup next summer after Fabio Capello's team booked its place in South Africa.
England's storming 5-1 victory over Croatia at Wembley last night guaranteed qualification for the sport's biggest tournament.
Hundreds of travel packages, starting from about £2,500 for a one-match trip, had been sold even before the Croatia game but thousands more are expected to be snapped up over the next few weeks as enquiries and bookings started to fly in this morning.
Fans were warned that packages are likely to sell out quickly.
"I wouldn't expect anything left by Christmas," said one senior travel executive.
Flights in and out of South Africa around the time of the World Cup, which runs from 11 June to 11 July, are already scarce and rapidly rising in price because of pre-emptive block bookings by major tour operators such as Thomas Cook and Thomson.
Hotels in cities where matches are being held, including Johannesburg, Cape Town, Pretoria and Durban, are filling fast.
Nathan Wilson, managing director of Thomson Sport, said the company had sold about 15 per cent of its packages before the Croatia game and this figure is certain to show a "substantial uplift" over the coming days, he said.
A handful of packages costing £8,779 - covering all seven potential England games over the course of a month - have already sold out although more are due to be released.
Fans will not know which countries England will play against in the group stage or where the games will take place until the draw is held on 4 December.
However, tour operators believe few committed fans will take the risk of booking that late.
The two main operators have chosen different centres as their bases with Thomson opting for Cape Town and Thomas Cook going for Johannesburg, closer to most of the venues.
Cape Town, a major travel destination in its own right, is likely to appeal more to fans who want to make their "once in a lifetime" trips proper holidays, according to Mr Wilson.
However, that will involve internal flights as six of the 10 venues are clustered around Johannesburg in the north-east of the country.
Johannesburg has a reputation as one of the world's most dangerous cities but it will attract the die-hard fans who are less concerned about South Africa's other attractions and simply want to be within driving distance of games.
Danny Talbot, managing director of Thomas Cook Sport, said: "With many supporters looking to be with the team during the competition we're anticipating that demand for our packages will be very high."
