Bound for Brazil this summer

Diehard fans have secured their tickets and are taking off for the trip of a lifetime

With the 2014 FIFA World Cup underway, Chinese tour agencies have seen good sales from different Cup-themed travel packages they have offered to soccer fans.

The World Cup lasts one month, from June 12 to July 13, and Brazil's tourism authority has predicted that 600,000 foreign travelers will visit the country during the period.

"The resources of the World Cup, such as game tickets and hotels, are scarce," says Tong Jun, marketing manager of Beijing UTour International Travel Service.

Tong says sales results have been positive for the agency's travel packages featuring game tickets, hotels and air tickets for the World Cup, though she declined to give details.

"Sports tourism products are different from others," she says. "After all, the resource is rare, and it is a niche market targeting small groups."

The price of tourism products to Brazil is high due to the long journey from China. Add in the World Cup, with its limited number of game tickets, and it becomes even more expensive, Tong says.

Trips including tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies were priced at 80,000 yuan ($12,808), and others are about 70,000 yuan, she adds.

The online travel agency Lvmama.com offers customers a variety of packages. The 79,900 yuan premium package is a nine-day trip with one ticket for the final match on July 13.

HHtravel.com, the high-end subsidiary of Ctrip.com International Ltd, offers a 775,000-yuan, 45-day around-the-world trip including one night at a World Cup game.

The website also has a 16-day program for soccer fans including three match tickets (one quarterfinal, one semifinal and the final). Tourists also would visit the country's landmarks, such as the Amazon River and its lush rainforests and Iguazu Falls at the border with Argentina.

Yang Mengyue, public relations manager of HHtravel.com, says two groups of five and seven people have booked the trip. They are all male, with ages between 35 and 50, and have a passion for soccer.

Aside from trips offered by travel agencies, many diehard soccer fans with smaller budgets have planned independent trips.

Shen Zhengling, 45, from Shanghai, secured two World Cup tickets.

"It's very different to watch the World Cup on TV and in the stadium. Just imagine, we are there as witnesses in soccer's heartland," says Shen, who works in sales.

Shen will leave for Sao Paulo on June 27 with six friends for a nine-day trip to Brazil. The trip will include a couple with their 3-year-old son. Because it is such a long flight, they will visit the United States or Canada before returning to China.

China has no direct flights to Brazil, and the total flying time is more than 20 hours.

"The two matches start at 1 pm but other fans told us to get there as early as 9 am because outside the stadium there will be a big party of soccer fans from all over the world," he says.

To encourage more fans to visit Brazil, the country has introduced a policy that allows visitors who have bought Cup tickets via official channels to make multiple return trips to the country within three months, under a special World Cup Visa exempt from visa fees.

"Thanks to the visa policy, preparation for the journey is not so difficult. All one needs to do is to have sufficient time and money. Independent touring is much cheaper than doing a group tour with agencies," he says.

Shen and his companions have made their own wish list for their World Cup tour, such as playing soccer and making foreign friends.

The group, together with other Chinese fans and Brazilian-Chinese who live Brazil, will play an amateur soccer match with Brazilian fans on June 29 in Sao Paulo.

"We contacted them in advance online. It will be a great experience to play soccer in Brazil," Shen says.

Shen is a bit worried about safety in Brazil, where the security situation can be precarious, so his group rented a car and hired a local Chinese guide.

"We are planning to see the slums to learn more about the country, and will hire a bodyguard. The two ladies don't want to go because they are concerned about safety," he says.

According to the travel website Tianxun.cn, from January through April, flight searches for Brazil by Chinese users increased by 354 percent from the same period in 2013. Many flight searches originated in Hong Kong, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and Wuhan. Most Chinese flights to Brazil depart from those cities.

"Some netizens on our website have been planning for their Brazil trips. They have encountered difficulties such as high costs, long flight hours and language barriers," says Zhang Zherui, marketing and content director of Qyer.com, a popular website for overseas travel.

Pan Dan from Nanning, in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, has saved for months to cover his 15-day trip to the World Cup. The 30-year-old health administrator and project assessor is a fan of the national teams of Portugal, Argentina and Spain, and has bought tickets to three matches, one between the US and Portugal, one between Ghana and Portugal, and a quarterfinal.

He estimates the cost will be between 50,000 and 60,000 yuan. But money is not the only problem.

"Language, accommodation, transportation, these are all problems in Brazil," he says, adding that these concerns will not stop his first-ever trip aboard.

"It's definitely worthwhile. I've been waiting many years to go to Brazil, and now the moment has come," he says.

"Compared with the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, more Chinese are going to this year's World Cup because of the increasing popularity of overseas trips in recent years," Zhang from Qyer.com says.

Contact the writers through xulin@chinadaily.com.cn

Harry Chen contributed to this story.

(China Daily Africa Weekly 06/13/2014 page15)