Currently, Sports Tourism is growing at a rapid rate of around 12% as declared by the Ministry of Tourism. This multi-trillion industry will witness a huge bounce in the upcoming years as per the predictions by the sports trade analysts.

In India, credit goes to the Indian Premier League (IPL) to break the plateau, from where Sports Tourism in India actually kickstarted. The Commonwealth Games 2010 New Delhi also proved a game changer for the industry and made India ready to stage the biggest sporting events. Also, Cricket World Cup 2011 cannot be underestimated, as it witnessed a huge attendance of foreigners in the stadiums as well.

Subsequently, India is frequently winning bids to conduct mega sporting events like this year’s Men’s Hockey World Cup, AIBA and more, which will obviously boost the economic growth of the hosting state as well as the nation.

Pro Kabaddi League and the Indian Super League are also winning the hearts. Aggressive marketing and advertising have done its job very well and is luring huge crowds to the stadiums. Social media is a game changer in the success of these kinds of sporting events and directly influences the general public.

With improved infrastructure and disposable incomes, people are ready to spend their weekends cheering for their favorite players playing in front of them. Sports enthusiasts are now reaching farther as never before, even to different countries, which was not at all common some years back.

Some of the upcoming international tournaments like the Badminton World Federation (BWF) Tour Lucknow and the ICC Champions Trophy 2021 are supposed to witness a fascinating response from abroad as well. The potential major sporting events are the key to attracting foreign crowds that can boost the inbound tourism market.

With more focus on sports infrastructure and campaigns like KHELO INDIA, our country has shown a strong will to boost sports culture. And according to predictions, very soon India is going to be in the top ten medal-winning countries. The better the sports structure, the better it would be sports tourism. Obviously, India lags way behind in terms of Sports Tourism, but things have started changing. Our country has a lot to learn from the experiences of the biggest fish in the market like European countries, America and China.

India is strongly looking forward to winning over the bids of Youth Olympics 2026, Asian Games 2030 & Summer Olympics 2032, which is a good signal for the future of Sports Tourism in India. To conclude on a positive note, the World would be witnessing a major sporting destination very soon!