Shimla, Oct 29, (PTI) More than one lakh spectators watched the five World Cup 2023 cricket matches held at the Himachal Pradesh Cricket Association (HPCA) Stadium at Dharamshala, a statement issued by the police said on Sunday.

Over one lakh spectators attended these five matches with the last two matches between India and New Zealand on October 22 and New Zealand and Australia on October 28 being houseful and completely sold out, the statement said.

“The hotel occupancy during October was around 25 to 30 per cent due to imposition of the special road tax (Rs 3000 to 5000 per day on entry of commercial vehicles registered outside the state) as tourists are avoiding Himachal.

“For the first three matches, the occupancy was the same but during the India-New Zealand match, it reached 100 per cent, president of Dharamshala Hotel and Restaurant Association, Ashwani Bamba told PTI.

This is the first time that Himachal Pradesh hosted ICC World Cup matches. According to the police data, around 25,000 vehicles, in addition to the local vehicles of different categories, were parked and managed in and around the stadium during the matches.  Providing information about the security preparations for the event, DGP Sanjay Kundu in a press statement said the preparations for the event began almost a month before the first team arrived in the town on October 3. 

Source: PTI News