Five biggest sports events that encourage tourism
What's the story
Sports attract millions of fans to travel to far-flung places for days, weeks, and even months. Sports tourism is not just about people hitting stadiums to watch their favorite sports, but also involves them extending their stays and combining their visits with holidays. With that in mind, here are the top five mega sports events that spur tourism.
Football
FIFA World Cup
The biggest extravaganza of football, the FIFA World Cup is organized once every four years. This event attracts millions of football fans from across the world. Some reports suggest that near to 5 million tourists visited Russia during the 2018 FIFA World Cup. To contextualize, Russia received a total of 24.55 million tourists in the year 2018. So, almost one-fifth is influenced by football.
Cricket
Indian Premier League
Cricket is undoubtedly India's favorite sport and it influences millions of cricket fans to visit India. The two-month-long running Indian Premier League (IPL) causes a surge in the influx of travelers to the host cities. IPL witnesses an average attendance of over 50,000 fans per match. A lot of travelers combine their holidays with the IPL tournament.
Mega sports
Olympics
Olympics, by far is the biggest sports event worldwide, with over 206 nations participating in more than 30 different sports. Olympics teams often travel with hundreds and thousands of officials, supporting staff, and administrators. The 2020 Tokyo Olympics attracted 4.2 million tourists to Japan. Such a massive influx of people boosts the local hospitality, travel, and logistics sectors.
F1 racing
Formula One Grand Prix
Why would small countries like Bahrain, Azerbaijan, and Monaco host a glamorous sport like the Formula One races? Well, it attracts a large crowd. Hosting an F1 race puts a country on the sporting map and stimulates curiosity among potential visitors. It's considered to be the most frequented sports event in the world after the Olympics, marked by a huge number of travelers.
Tennis
Tennis tournaments
Tennis tournaments are played throughout the year at various levels. Some of the biggest tennis tournaments that attract travelers from across the world include Wimbledon in London and the US Open in New York. The Australian Open in Melbourne and the French Open in Paris are the two other major crowd-pullers. There are ATP tournaments that are equally loved by traveling fans.