Saudi Arabia Hosts IPL Auction: What It Means for Sports Tourism

Last week, Saudi Arabia’s Jeddah hosted this year’s player auction for the Indian Premier League (IPL) — the highly popular annual cricket tournament in India. While Saudi Arabia is only hosting the auction, it is part of its larger strategy to bring big sporting activities to the country. 

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia’s sports minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki bin Faisal said that over the past four years, about 2.5 million tourists visited the kingdom for 80 global sporting events.

During the IPL auction, the 10 franchise teams bid for participating players from across the globe.

While IPL has always been hosted in India, it has been hosted outside the country three times — in 2009, it was in South Africa, and then in UAE in 2020 and 2021, held across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Sharjah. Speaking at the Skift India Summit earlier this year, Dubai Tourism CEO Issam Kazim while talking about the IPL, said, “We know the importance of it for the India communities.”

Often dubbed a marriage of cricket with entertainment, the 2024 edition of the tournament had close to 1.2 billion people viewing the matches on streaming services. The live matches are equally popular.

Saudi’s Interest in Indian Travelers

Saudi aims to bring in 150 million visitors by 2030 as part of its plan to diversify the economy. The kingdom is looking at Indians as a key source market for its tourism plan. In September, Saudi Arabia launched its first-ever marketing campaign targeted exclusively at Indian tourists.

Anand Menon, vice president of trade and distribution, Asia Pacific for the Saudi Tourism Authority also spoke about the creation of unique experiences specifically designed for Indian tourists to showcase its hospitality, festivals, and the variety of activities available throughout the year.

The Kingdom is also aiming to make travel easier for Indians. Indian travelers holding valid visas for U.S., UK, or Schengen countries, are eligible for eVisas and visa-on-arrival at Saudi airports. Moreover, travelers on Saudi carriers Saudia and Flynas can also take advantage of a free stopover visa, valid for up to 96 hours, which can be applied for up to 90 days in advance

Popularity of Cricket in India

Cricket is perhaps the most popular sport in India. In 2023, the cricket World Cup held in India had over 1.25 million fans attend the tournament. Speaking at the Skift India Summit earlier this year, Eric Garcetti, U.S. Ambassador to India, spoke about the potential for cricket on the world stage.

Cricketers are also popular as brand ambassador for travel companies. Earlier this year, Indian online travel company Cleartrip signed former captain of the Indian cricket team, Mahendra Singh Dhoni, as its brand ambassador. International destinations have also leveraged the popularity of cricket stars to attract tourists. 

Tourism Australia recently launched a social media campaigning video starring cricketer David Warner targeting Indian tourists ahead of the India and Australia test series in Perth. Phillipa Harrison, managing director of Tourism Australia, said the series has attracted five times more bookings from Indians than it did in 2018.

Saudi and Cricket

Saudi Arabia has its own cricket team. It became an affiliate member of the International Cricket Council in 2003. However, the Saudi has not yet played against India.

Sports tourism is a major attraction for Indians. Skift had earlier reported that online travel companies were witnessing a 20-40% increase in demand for big-ticket global sporting events, including cricket World Cup series, Wimbledon, the Olympics, and F1.

A Skift Research in October had highlighted that Indian travelers are enthusiastic about attending global sports events, despite higher costs. “Over 90% of surveyed Indian travelers acknowledged the high costs but remained interested in attending,” it said.