Cricket World Cup - and the winners are..hotels, airlines and pizzas!

So congratulations to India, well deserved winners in a thrilling final. As well as the team out on the field, there are probably going to be a few other winners as well.

I don't have the figures for this year but last year, corporate India spent an estimated Rs 500-600 crore (GBP 7-8 m) on two cricket tournaments — the IPL and the T20 World Cup.

These tournaments and the many new product launches that accompanied them led to consumer products companies increasing their advertising and promotion (A&P ) spends by 25-40 % in the April-June quarter.

Even this year, the quarters ending March and June are going to see higher adspend by most consumer companies , like HUL, ITC, Godrej Consumer and Dabur and the increase in the consumption of alcohol through the season is also going to be of benefit to market leader United Breweries as is Jubilant Foodworks, a quick service restaurant selling the Domino's Pizzas in India.

The Airlines and hotels sectors will also benefit from this. In February, there was a 15% growth — more than the normal growth of 8-10 % — in the arrival of foreign tourists in comparison to last year's February . Besides business travellers, these include cricket fans from different countries. This would be particularly beneficial to companies such as Indian Hotels Company and EIH which are more dependent on foreign tourists for revenues.

At the same time, many airline companies also increased their ticket prices . For instance, domestic airline companies increased their one-way ticket price of Mumbai-Chandigarh flight from a normal day fare to Rs 24,000 from Rs 6,000 on the day of semi-final cricket World Cup match. Companies like SpiceJet, Indigo Airlines and Kingfisher benefited well from this.

Sorry! Mumbai is full.

As the Cricket World Cup Final draws closer, nearly every starred hotel room in the city has been booked.

If you insist, you can be on the waiting list, in case of last-minute cancellations - not that there are likely to be any what with this being a) the first time a host nation has contested the Cricket World Cup final on home soil and that b) Sachin Tendulkar is up for reaching his 100th Century and that c) Muttiah Muralitharan will be bowling his last ever overs in competitive cricket. This is India and this is cricket after all.

"The position is extremely tight. We don't even have enough rooms for prominent guests," said Kamlesh Barot, president, Hotels & Restaurants Association Western India (HRAWI) which has a membership of over 1,200 hotels in the western region of Maharashtra, Goa and Gujarat.

There are around 9,000 rooms in star-rated hotels in Mumbai. According to hotel industry sources, even the approximately 11,000 hotel rooms in the unorganized sector have been booked.

"There are waiting lists. In case of last-minute cancellations, people will be accommodated," Barot said.

Guests from across the country and even from abroad are making a beeline to the city's hotels. Hotel industry sources said it was high time a city like Mumbai expanded its capacity of hosting guests by increasing the number of rooms.

"The availability of 9,000 rooms in star-rated hotels is very low for the financial capital. Cities like NYC, Los Angeles and London have abundant resources for tourists and guests," a senior corporate official who travels frequently across prominent cities said.

A senior government official said the guests, including major corporates, who had booked stands and pavilions at the Wankhede, had made bulk bookings. "There is no option for others but to wait or they can go to hotels in the unorganized sector, including lodges," said the official who could not book rooms for his guests.

My money is on India by the way. And for Tendulkar to get his 100th century..