Irish supporters travelling to the European Championships next summer may have to fork out a whopping €900 per night to secure a bed.
The host nations, particularly Poland, are determined to make a quick buck for the duration of the tournament next summer by ripping off the thousands of football fans that will descend upon the Eastern European nations in June.
According to Abbey Travel sports consultant Kevin Williams, the phones have been ringing off the hook ever since we all but secured qualification after defeating Estonia in Tallinn, but many a loyal follower of the Boys in Green will be put off by the exorbitant prices, with the average price coming in at €400 a night and some three-star hotels in Poland demanding just under €1,000 a night for a place to rest your head.
“From the day after the first leg of the play-off against Estonia we have been bombarded,” Williams told the Irish Independent.
“We have a database of nearly 3,000 emails from people who are interested – it’s huge. The phones haven’t stopped ringing.”
Seeing as the Euros will be our first major tournament in ten years, there is a huge amount of Irish fans ready to jump on the bandwagon and head east next summer, despite the fact that rarely if ever has the country been at such a low ebb economically.
Williams hinted that there is no hope that the ticket and overall package supply will satisfy the huge demand, but said that, ticket or not ticket, hotel or no hotel, up to 15,000 Irish fans are likely to travel regardless.
“There is a suspicion out there that there will be a shortage,” he said.
“The way it’s going at the moment it’s looking that way; it’s been 10 years since we have qualified for a major tournament.
“It’s difficult to say how much of that (interest) will actually translate into people travelling. People do have six months to save for it as well.
“It will probably replace a lot of family holidays.
“People will always go without tickets and hope that they will get them over there. It’s difficult to pinpoint a number but up to 15,000 (are likely to go).”
Abbey Travel and other travel companies are still finalising package details but are likely to have overall packages for all three group games, as well as individual day trips to the games against Croatia, Spain and Italy, finalised by the end of this week.
Tour operators will be going on a first come, first come served basis, so if you’re dead keen and money is of little object, have the phone at the ready. Otherwise, load up the camper van/minibus/Hiace and prepare for a few sleepless nights (as if you’d be getting much sleep anyway).
