Tour operators milk cricket craze, offer Australia matches in itinerary

Indians visiting Australia during winters would now have more to see than just Gold Coast and the Great Barrier Reef. 

To cash in on Indians' craze for cricket, travel companies Thomas Cook and SOTC have included India-Australia matches in the group tour itineraries. The move shows sports tourism is not limited to the corporate segment alone and is fast becoming a part of leisure and family travel as well.

“The games have been incorporated in such a way that an increase in the number of tour days is not required. This is the first time we have included Australia cricket matches into our group itineraries though we had done this earlier for our MICE segment,”  said Rajeev Kale, president and country head (leisure travel), Thomas Cook India. MICE refers to meetings, incentive and conference trips.

SOTC Travel has seen 30-35 per cent growth in customer queries for the inclusion of unique experiences (like sporting events) in tours, said it's India sales head Daniel D'souza.

India is slated to play four tests and three one day and T20 matches each in a two-month tour beginning November 21. Last week, Tourism Australia and cricket website ESPNcricinfo released a destination promotion video aimed at attracting more high-value travellers from India. 

"Based on the current growth trend, Australia is expected to welcome around 70,000 to 75,000 tourists from India during November-December delivering an incremental 9,000 to 12,000 visitors during this period," said Nishant Kashikar, country manager of Tourism Australia.

While watching cricket matches is still the big attraction, world cup football and Formula One racing is also gaining popularity.  Mega sporting events have opened up new destinations for Indians and a new trend is that it's part of family travel too.

"Earlier the target market for sports tourism events was largely corporates which organise incentive tours for their top performers. It has now moved to family holidays," said Karan Anand, head- relationships, Cox & Kings.

According to Anand, the world cup football in Brazil in 2014 opened up the destination for Indians in a big way.

"Over 5,000 Indians travelled to Russia during the FIFA world cup earlier this year. What aided this spectacular growth in numbers was the easing of visa procedures for Indian travellers," he said.

"Sports tourism is a small segment in the overall travel sector but is growing fast. We have seen 20 per cent year on year growth in customers. Cricket matches is the main attraction but we also have customers travelling to watch F1 racing events in Abu Dhabi and Singapore," said Sharat Dhall, chief operating officer (B2C), Yatra.com