India-based Uniglobe Sameera Travel has announced a plan to offer a new kind of tourism, cricket tourism.
The firm said that it was planning the travel itinerary for cricket lovers and fans, and the idea would capitalise on the popularity of the game around the world. The company, an associate of Vancouver-based Uniglobe Travel, said that the unique travel programme would enable willing cricket connoisseurs and professionals to connect with the game they love, directly or indirectly.
The novel idea is the brainchild of former Ranji player, Vijay Mohan Raj, who is also a qualified cricket coach for the National Cricket Academy, which is the training wing of India’s cricket-governing body, the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI).
The Ranji tournament, a first-class cricket event, is the nation’s domestic cricket circuit and players who make a mark in the Ranji tournaments often have the opportunity of representing the nation in international cricket. The firm said that it has already launched a site, www.cricketconsultants.com, to popularise the concept of cricket tourism.
According to Raj, there are about 110 cricket-playing countries, though not all of them are test match-playing nations. Through the travel and tourism programme, Raj is looking to popularise cricket team-exchange programmes and organise tournaments in countries where the game is popular. Those who are willing to watch the players in action live can opt for a tourist package and travel wherever the matches are hosted.
Uniglobe Travel is claimed to be the world’s largest single-brand travel franchise company, with an annual system-wide sales volume of USD5bn.
Raj said, ‘We are in talks with all the International Cricket Council (ICC) member countries to take this initiative forward. We expect our programmes to help some of ICC’s associate and affiliate members to gain experience and achieve test match-playing country status. It is too early to speculate on future revenues from our cricket tourism programme.’
