T20 Cricket World Cup, Paris Olympics drive travel demand among Indians: Booking.com

Events like Paris Olympics, T20 Cricket World Cup are driving sports tourism demand among Indians.

The ongoing ICC Men's T20 Cricket World Cup and the upcoming Paris Olympics have piqued the interest of Indian travellers, driving demand for sports tourism in the country.

Travel trends data for 2024 show that 73 percent of Indian travellers plan to travel for international sporting events this year, according to travel platform Booking.com.

It further noted that the trend corresponds to the increase in searches on the platform for mega sporting events such as the Paris 2024 Olympics, Wimbledon Championships and ICC Men’s T20 World Cup.

Sports tourism 

"There are a lot of global events that Indians are travelling for now with a vengeance. For instance, the Cricket World Cup, and then there is the Paris Olympics. Paris is one of the top 10 most-searched destinations by Indians during the Olympics. When you look at the flight searches and the demand that's coming through we have seen a lot of demand coming from the Indian market. Indians are travelling more and more for such events and experiences," Santosh Kumar, country manager for India, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Indonesia at Booking.com.

Accommodation in Paris is among the top five searched items at the moment, with a 30 percent year-on-year (YoY) increase over last year on Booking.com. While in France, Indians are also looking at nearby destinations like Nice, Cannes and Cap D'Agde which are also seeing a notable on-year rise in searches.

With the Wimbledon Championship scheduled for July 2024, London is on top of the list for Indians travelling globally this July, with a 10 percent increase in searches from last year. Similarly, Indians are also looking at travelling to the US, which sees a 20 percent increase in searches as compared to the same time last year. New York is among the top 10 most searched destinations by Indians this June, with a 50 percent increase in searches from June 1 to 15 in line with the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024.

Countries count on Indian travellers

Kumar said that every international market is keen on Indian travellers.

"This is great news from a passport perspective. It used to be very difficult to travel earlier with an Indian passport but it's starting to get a little easier now. I love the fact that so many destinations are opening up their borders so easily to Indian travellers, including Indonesia. There's been an increase in direct flight connectivity from all our metro cities going into Bali and Jakarta that is leading to a spurt in Indians travelling to Indonesia. The country is now targeting to almost double the number of arrivals in 2024, compared to 2023. They had 600,000 Indian tourists last year and they're looking to target more than a million this year. Other examples include Vietnam, Japan and Sri Lanka."

He added that India's growing outbound travel market also means increasing competition for the domestic travel industry. "The hoteliers have to fight to keep that Indian traveller within our shores."

He expects Asia Pacific to be the fastest growing region due to markets like India and China. "Along with India, China is also seeing flight capacity coming back. In its top markets like Korea, Thailand and Japan, capacity has come back to almost 75-80 percent of pre-Covid levels. As international flight capacity comes back, Chinese travellers are going to come back in a very big way," Kumar said.

Homestay trending

Kumar also estimates the accommodation supply to more than double before the end of this decade in India. The alternate accommodation segment is growing in India and still has room for growth in comparison to other markets like Australia and Indonesia, he added.

"Alternate accommodation is growing in leisure destinations like Alibaug, Goa and the hills. From a global standpoint, it's an important segment for us. It continues to grow every quarter. As per our Q1 2024 earnings of Booking Holdings, at the end of Q1, global alternative accommodation listings were 7.4 million, up 11 percent YoY. This segment is growing faster than the traditional hotel segment. And, the average daily rates tend to be higher than the hotel segment."