Well-travelled Bengalureans are game for bespoke sports tourism

BENGALURU: When Sriram Suresh (29), a sales & distribution executive with IBM, ardently watched a football match between Manchester United and Leicester City in Manchester this year, little did he know that it will set a holidaying pattern. Suresh was booked on a flight with likeminded fans, stayed at Hotel Football and got to interact with former players like Dwight Yorke in the stadium’s bar area.
“Watching my favourite team Manchester United play live and win in a packed stadium was remarkable. I plan to watch their game as part of a holiday every year,” says Suresh. The one-day highlight was curated as part of a European holiday with his gang of boys.

Bespoke sports travel experiences is the hot new entrant in the trending bucket-list phenomenon that has gripped Bengaluru vacation enthusiasts. Football, motorsport and golf are top drawers.

Learning to bowl from Shane Warne at the cricket academy in Australia; Singapore Grand Prix experience with a chat with rally drivers; drive a Ferrari in Italy; learn putting from a celebrity golfer like Ernie Els in Dubai; watch a rugby game in South Africa; or learn archery in Bhutan – international sports tourism has evolved. Take the case of DS Murali (62) who attended the Malaysian Grand Prix in September with his son and daughter. “I had always watched Formula 1 races featuring legends like Lewis Hamilton on television. I wanted to see it live.” Murali’s next wish is to attend the Olympics and watch atypical sports like archery and gymnastics.

Once-in-a-lifetime is the recurring travel theme. This has fuelled the rise of sports travel companies which are curating endto-end packages complete with match tickets, hotel stays, celebrity-fan moments and sight-seeing.

One such is Sportytrip Experiences which launched operations a year ago. Founder Ashok Karanth says, “People’s requests have changed from acquiring match tickets to bespoke experiences. With celebrities being created in multiple sports besides cricket, people want to take the sporting experience to the next level.” Karanth notes that largely men want to take up these holidays with their gang of friends, business colleagues and children. Observing how the cosmopolitan city’s high-disposable income, well-travelled and sports-loving youth pool makes Bengaluru an important market, Karanth adds, “A lot of the travellers for football matches are first-time jobbers from the IT industry. Older generation wants to talk to a legend while watching a match. HNIs want to play at top golf courses with celebrity golfers.” BuyMyTime, a new Bengaluru-based online raffle platform, brings together celebrities and fans. Its first curation in October got four winners an all-expense paid trip to London to watch the premier league match — Chelsea vs Manchester United — with actor Abhishek Bachchan.

According to Arun Raghu, co-founder of another sports experience company FansOnStands.com, today’s international traveller from Bengaluru wants to understand a destination’s culture by checking out its theatre scene, cuisine and now even the sports arena. “Delhi and Mumbai are cash-rich but Bengaluru’s international exposure is high. A Bengalurean’s knowledge of international music, cuisine, theatre and sports is uptodate.” Raghu has been witnessing 120% year-on-year growth in sales from Bengaluru.

To which niche travel curator Vikram Ahuja of Byond Travel adds, “People are aggregating offline and online fuelling the sports travel trend. Likeminded people want to travel together and a shared interest in a sport. This will boost the potential of this genre.”