THE HAGUE - European travel agencies and airlines have seen a sharp rise in bookings for Rome since the death of the pope and are expecting another surge in the run-up to his funeral Friday.
"Reservations should increase even more this week," Bart Koster, a spokesman for Dutch flag carrier KLM told AFP.
Several Dutch tour operators said that demand for tickets shot up after John Paul II died late Saturday but said it was too early to say whether they would need to increase their flights and buses to Rome.
In Germany, travel group Thomas Cook said its bookings for the Italian capital had been on the rise for weeks after the 84-year-old pontiff's health took a sharp turn for the worse.
But spokeswoman Nina Dumert said it was unclear what percentage of the reservations was for travelers bound for the Vatican, noting that the early date of Easter this year and spring holidays had already increased interest in trips to the Italian capital.
Meanwhile several airlines said most of their flights to Rome were sold-out, with Italy's Alitalia saying that the Brussels-Rome route was "unusually full" and Spain's Viajes Marsans planning several charter flights from Madrid to the Eternal City.
Iberia and Air Europa also said they were considering boosting capacity to meet the fresh demand.
And Polish carrier LOT said it was planning a special flight Tuesday in honor of the country's native son, noting that seats on all of its scheduled Rome-bound planes were sold out through Friday.
LOT said it would be deploying its biggest Boeings to accommodate as many pilgrims as possible while SkyEurope and WizzAir, which serves the southern Polish city of Katowice, said their Rome flights this week were nearly or completely full.
And Polish rail company PKP said it would be laying on special trains to Rome.
04/04/2005 14:31 GMT