The Cricket World Cup is not just an ordinary championship. That had a huge impact, especially on increasing travel demand to the country of cricket mania, India. There is a lot of hustle and bustle and in the midst of it all, many companies are trying to make a profit, including those operating within the gambling industry. Today one of the most searched keywords by Indians is Cricket betting app in India.
Cricket is the most popular in India and in that country, as well as Pakistan, cricket matches are almost always packed with spectators. Cricket is more than just a sport, it is a culture. Because of its role as a cultural element, cricket cannot be separated from the strong emotions of its fans. Cricket is certainly not from India but the country is the number one cricket nation today. This is proven by the fact that 90 percent of global cricket fans are Indian and Pakistani. These two South Asian countries are the two countries with the largest number of cricket fans in the world.
India has just fulfilled its duties as host of the 2024 Men’s Cricket World Cup. The event took place from 5 October to 19 November 2024 and in that time span, it was held in 10 cities with a total of 48 matches participated by Pakistan, England, New Zealand, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, etc.
All are countries with a strong cricket culture. Opened by England’s first match against New Zealand at the Narendra Modi Stadium, it was clear that the championship would be a success, and so it is in fact as the 2024 Men’s Cricket World Cup has been named the highest-attended cricket championship in history. It should be noted that the Narendra Modi Stadium is the largest cricket stadium in the world with a capacity of 110,000 spectators, showing India’s seriousness in leading the world of cricket.
The cricket fever contributed to the increase in tourism
Source: moov.co.in
India’s tourism industry has seen a surge during the 2024 Men’s Cricket World Cup. It was recorded that there was an increase of more than 200% in searches for accommodation in the 10 cities hosting the match. The highest spike was when India’s match against Pakistan was held with accommodation searches increasing by up to 1,000%. Everyone is affected and not only accommodation searches but international and domestic flight rates are also increasing rapidly.
Other impacts
The 2024 Men’s Cricket World Cup is a phenomenon that occurred not long ago. Globally, it may not look like the World Cup, but in some countries, its popularity even surpasses that of the big football championship. The global cricket championship is proof that India, as one of the few countries that is “loyal” to cricket, has succeeded in establishing its reputation as a world cricket center. And that reputation will bring a new image that will take Indian tourism to the next level.
Sports tourism trends
Source: madvikretreat.com
The sports tourism trend is a new tourism trend that is emerging in many countries and in the Indian context, it is the cricket tourism trend. This tourism trend does not depend on big events such as the Men’s Cricket World Cup 2024 but also on regular cricket competitions. There is a survey result released by Skift Research which states that many Indians are willing to travel across states to watch their favorite cricket team. The traffic flow fueled by cricket enthusiasm has continued in a positive trend, at least in the last decade. For cricket fans from outside India, the Indian cricket competition is one of the most recognized, which best represents the sport itself. A comparison might be the English Premier League in England and La Liga in Spain for football.
Other commercial aspects
Source: cricketaddictor.com
And when we’re talking about a sport with hundreds of millions of fans, we can’t just limit it to tourism. There are other economic aspects, for example, those related to games. And cricket-related games are dominated by betting. The value of betting on cricket games in India continues to increase from year to year. If valued in dollars, tens of millions of dollars circulate in India every year. We have not yet discussed the sales of cricket teams’ merchandise which continues to increase significantly. This all illustrates that the cricket boom has had a huge economic impact on this South Asian country.
Ultimately cricket is one of the identities of modern India. It has a positive effect on many aspects, especially aspects of the national economy. This is one way Indians have fun and since the country is a giant market, cricket is not just another sport. Hopefully, this article can provide valuable insight into the Indian cricket fever which seems to be “getting worse” from year to year.
