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As the Indian team pads up for another battle with archrivals Australia in their own backyard, a few companies are using this opportunity to reward high performing employees, clients and distribution partners. Sports tourism is starting to find its feet with Indians, both at the corporate and the individual levels.
Even big travel firms like Kuoni are now offering packages for cricket, badminton, F1, etc. Tourism Australia says it is expecting a lot of Indians during the upcoming Australian Open tennis in Melbourne. This year, an estimated 30-35% of Indian footfalls are expected in the first three months of 2012 primarily due to the two sporting events. In 2011, an estimated 1,50,000 Indians visited Australia, says Tourism Australia's country manager Nishant Kashikar.
Travel firms have been quick to gauge the mood. Executives say sports-related travel packages have been in vogue since the Indian Premier League in South Africa in 2009. Today, companies like SOTC Sports, Cutting Edge Events, Makemytrip and Cox & Kings are offering a range of itineraries and packages from just about 2 night-3 days to 6 nights-7 days for Australia as per a report in TOI by Meenakshi Verma Ambwani.
Packages start at about Rs 1-1.3 lakh per person and go up to over Rs 2 lakh per person, which includes airfares, hotel stays, match tickets and visits to stadiums, museums, etc. Industry players estimate that of the 11-12 million travelers who travel abroad every year, nearly 2-2.5% are travelers who design their incentive travel around sports. This segment, though niche, is growing at nearly 15-20% year-on-year depending on the sports calendar in the year.
"Besides cricket, there is a growing demand for incentive tours around sports like soccer, F1, tennis and golf," says Mayank Khandwala, co-founder of Cutting Edge Events, which specialises in sports tourism. The company expects companies to plan their outbound incentive tours aroundUEFA Euro Cup, besides tennis championships like Wimbledon and French Open. In fact, Wimbledon has become a major platform for Indian businessmen to network with bankers and companies.
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