Published on : Saturday, May 19, 2018
According to recent trends Indians are combining their love for travelling and sports by planning their holidays coinciding with popular sports events, and boosting sports tourism from India as they do so.
Reports suggest that Indians are travelling more, both within and outside the country, to attend their choice of sports event, thus having accelerated the sports tourism industry by 10-12 per cent.
“Globally sports tourism is a multi-billion dollar industry. According to estimates, global sports tourism was worth USD 7 billion (EUR 5.93 billion) in 2017. While it is a mature industry overseas, in India it is in infancy (stage),” Cox and Kings Head, relationships, Karan Anand said.
“There has also been a shift in the interest for other sporting events like the Soccer World Cup or the Olympics. We see 10-12 per cent growth in arrivals to these destinations, when a major sporting event takes place,” he added.
While Indians have been travelling to Australia, New Zealand, Sri Lanka and England to watch cricket matches, over the last 10 years there has also been an increase in crowd that goes to the Olympics, the Soccer World Cup and Grand Prix Formula One.
For events like the Olympics people choose a specific sport event to go to or just travel for the opening ceremony, Anand told the press. People enjoy the atmosphere there and also at other events like the Soccer World Cup, which also attracts a lot of Indians, particularly men.
On the other hand, big companies are sending their top performers on incentive trips to the events, while also using the opportunity for team building exercises.
The first rise in sports travelling was seen in 2008 with the Indian Premier League, followed by the 2011 ICC World Cup. People also planned their holidays and honeymoon around these games, it has been reported.
Tags: Indian travellers, sports events