India has always been big in the tourism industry because of its extreme diversity. However, India’s sports tourism is also carving a niche for itself in Indian tourism industry, attracting many adventurers to grab flights to India.
Sports tourism is a pretty popular phenomenon in areas such as North America, Australia and Europe. The term ‘sport tourism’ basically means tourism that is based on the theme of sports.
India is one of the regions in the world that is slowly but slowly catching up with the fad of sports tourism. With adequate support from relevant authorities, sports tourism in India is indeed gaining immense prominence and popularity. People from different parts of the globe have started looking towards India as a world class holiday destination with top of the line sporting infrastructure. Travellers book tickets on flights to India not only to enjoy some of the world’s finest attractions but also to experience a vacation that is sports-oriented!
India is a huge country with an extremely varied topography. Be it skiing on the great Himalayan ranges, bicycling on the wobbly Indian roads or rafting on gushing rivers – India holidays offers a range of opportunities to its visitors to test out their sporting skills! Not surprisingly, cheap flights to India are increasingly becoming more popular among sports freaks!
Popular Sports in India
As far popularity goes, the game of cricket has absolutely no competition in India! The country has won several major international cricket tournaments and this has further precipitated the popularity of the game in the region. Every foreign tourist who grabs flights to India and lands up in the country is sure to be greeted with scenes of children playing the sport in every ground and almost every street!
Hockey is the national game of India and not without any reason! The country is one of the top names in the game and has won several gold medals in the Olympic Games. Other popular sports in India include football, chess, tennis, table tennis, golf, billiards, archery badminton and boxing. Formula One is another sport that is slowly but surely catching the fancy of Indians!
Indian Destinations Popular for Adventure Activities
Travellers to India can indulge in a range of sports activities on their leisure vacations. Adventure activities like mountaineering, scuba diving, kayaking, canoeing, sailing, surfing, water scooting, snorkelling and paragliding provide ample opportunities to sports lovers and enthusiasts to enjoy an invigorating vacation in India. Indian destinations that are popular for organising adventure activities are Himachal Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Goa and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.
The Himalayan state of Himachal Pradesh has become a hub of adventure sport activities. Sports tourism in the state comprises of sports such as trekking, skiing, river rafting and mountain cycling. While Manali, Shimla and Kufri are renowned for their skiing spots, rivers like Chandrabhaga, Ravi and Beas are apt for rafting and kayaking. Jammu and Kashmir’s Gulmarg is also a popular spot for winter sports.
Goa’s sports tourism is all about water sports – windsurfing, water-skiing, parasailing and the likes! The wonderful coastal stretches of the smallest Indian state make it an attractive spot for aquatic sports lovers!
A great number of sports are practised in India, with the country hosting numerous sporting events throughout the year and attracting sports lovers to look for information on cheap flights to India.
Cricket
The country recently hosted the very successful Cricket World Cup, one of the world’s biggest international sporting events. The cricket-crazy country is currently hosting the Indian Premier League – IPL 2012, which is a professional league for Twenty20 cricket competition in India. Other important domestic cricket tournaments that travellers to India can enjoy are Ranji Trophy, Irany Trophy, Duleep Trophy and Challenger Trophy. A cricket lover just cannot get bored in India!
Football
Football is another sport that has huge fan following all across India. Several football tournaments that are held every year in the nation are Santosh Trophy, the IFA Shield, Nehru Cup International Football Tournament and Durnad Cup.
Hockey
India boasts of an amazingly glorious past in hockey. The country is going to host a number of hockey tournaments in 2012.
Tennis
Tennis is another sport that is experiencing major growth in terms of popularity in India and it is due to tournaments like Chennai Open, Sunfest Open and the Kingfisher Airlines Tennis Open.
Others
A number of golf tournaments are also going to take place in coming days. These tournaments include Aamby Valley Asian Masters, Hero Honda Indian Open, Indian Masters and the SAIL Open. Upcoming sports events in India also include tournaments in badminton, swimming, snooker, athletics and archery among others. Formula One’s Indian Grand Prix Tournament is also scheduled to be held in the month of October in New Delhi. With so much on offer, it surely does not come as a surprise that India is the next big thing in terms of sports tourism and cheap airfare on India-bound flights is highly sought after!
