While hotels are already seeing their fair share of business, and are expecting that to climb as the start of the CWC draws closer, the national airline, Air Jamaica, is not yet seeing the full notch of travel bookings to the island in anticipation of the event.

"The bright spark right now where we have bookings is only for the opening ceremony and that first West Indies/Pakistan game," Richard Lue, Air Jamaica's director of Cricket World Cup and special events, said.

"The draw is the West Indies and our West Indian fans all around are last-minute, so we have a lot of potential growth but we have nothing right now," he added.

He notes that there are individual bookings coming through, but flights are not yet full because of what he theorises might be a difficulty faced by West Indian fans in making decisions about where they will be accommodated.

Staying with a friend

"They really are looking whether they will stay with a friend ... it's really hard to read the West Indian fans coming in," he added.

The airline is currently targeting groups of people instead of individuals. Air Jamaica has been working closely with the Trelawny Homecoming Committee, for example, to target those members of the diaspora who intend to come in time for cricket. It is also working on groups within the United Kingdom.

But the airline is expecting business to boom by April when the the biggest group of travellers the airlines hopes to benefit from - the Indians - will be travelling to the West Indies. Many of those flights are expected to be full, Mr. Lue explained.

"The demand is there for the second part of the super eight in Barbados because the Indians are banking on the idea that India is going to be playing in those two games," he said. On their way to Barbados, many are expected to overnight in Jamaica, accruing business to many of our hotels and guest accommodations.