Indian supporters cheering at Melbourne Cricket Ground
With sports tourism gaining momentum in India, 2020 leaves the sports fanatics spoilt for choices with the upcoming Olympics, UEFA Euro, Wimbledon, US Open, Grand Prix and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.
“Sport and tourism have similar objectives: to help us draw closer to and understand other cultures and lifestyles, and to promote peace among peoples. From that vantage point, they have brought together two complementary worlds that seek the betterment of humans as beings who need to have relationships with others,” was the sentiment highlighted at the first World Conference on Sport and Tourism.
According to a study released in February 2018 by a US-based research agency, sports is the fastest growing sector in the global tourism industry with an estimated worth of USD 800 billion. In India, it has been growing at 10-12 pc with the Indian sports fan visiting a place to have live viewership opportunities of the sports events. While cricket is the most popular sport among Indians, increased media coverage and exposure has also lead to an increase in the popularity of sports such as football, tennis, hockey athletics, Formula One and also multi-sports event like Olympics, Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games. India was among the top 10 nations that bought tickets for the 2018 FIFA World Cup even when India didn’t feature in the game.
Cricket
2020 will see Australia hosting the ICC T20 World Cup and cricket being one of the most celebrated sports in India, 40,000 visitors are expected to travel to attend these matches from India. “Cricket is still the big one in sports in India and Indians are quite excited about going and watching sports outside India. The response for the T20 World Cup in Australia is very good. Lot of groups and companies are sending MICE groups, lot of individuals are also travelling,” Manoj Saraf, managing director, Gainwell Travel whose subsidiary Gainwell Sports deals with sports-based packages tells India Outbound.
Another travel agency dnata has also come up with its special packages for travel to Australia on the days when India is playing. For packages which has match tickets and intercity transfer it is priced in the range USD 250-515, while there is another category for travellers seeking two-day stay along with the match where single occupancy ranges in USD 470-815, while for double occupancy it is USD 705-1,130. The 2020 ICC Women’s T20 World Cup commences on February 21-March 8, while the Men’s World Cup is scheduled from October 18-November 15.
Football
For the football fanatics, there is the UEFA Champions League Final in Istanbul where you can catch Europe’s elite teams battling each other and UEFA Euro 2020 which will be held from June 12-July 12, where 24 clubs from Europe will play to be crowned as the best team in Europe with the final being held at Wembley Stadium, London, on May 30. The packages for UEFA Euro starts from EUR 780 per person where they get a match ticket along with access to lounge and food station.
Olympics
The Olympics is one of the biggest sporting events of 2020 and many sports lovers from India are planning a trip to Tokyo, the host of 2020 Olympics Games to show their support for the athletes competing in the various track and field events. “There is a lot of interest for Olympics as well and the demand is very good. But for Olympics, the event is a little bit expensive, so number of people travelling is lesser than those travelling for cricket,” Saraf said.
The 32nd edition of Olympics is being held from July 24-August 9 and the window for booking event tickets opened on July 9, 2019 while the air tickets went on sale 11-months prior to the event. The first phase of selling the tickets are being conducted by Authorised Ticket Resellers (ATR) which have been assigned to each National Olympic Committee (NOC). Fanatic Sports have been assigned as India’s ATR.
Not only these, you also have the US Open, Wimbledon and Grand Prix for those who are more inclined towards tennis or formula one car racing.
