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Australia is gearing up to welcome cricket enthusiasts from around the world to the ICC T20 World Cup, which will be played as two standalone tournaments for women and men across eight Australian cities.
The finals for both tournaments will be held at the largest cricket stadium in the world, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG).
While the Women’s T20 World Cup is scheduled from February 21 to March 8, 2020, the Men’s T20 World Cup will be held from October 18 to November 15, 2020.
The influx of fans to Australia from across the world is expected to build on the positive legacy of the ICC Cricket World Cup 2015, which was co-hosted by Australia. The tournament had attracted approximately 1,00,000 international visitors.
The women’s tournament presents an unparalleled opportunity with the finals of the T20 World Cup to be hosted on Sunday, March 8, 2020, International Women’s Day.
Australia’s Minister for Tourism Simon Birmingham recently announced additional funding of A$5 million for Tourism Australia. This was meant to promote the upcoming ICC T20 Cricket World Cup to fans in India, with the aim of driving visitation to both the women’s and men’s tournaments. It also aims to increase Australia’s broader destination appeal in India.
Nishant Kashikar, Country Manager, India & Gulf, Tourism Australia, said, “We continue to witness an encouraging growth from India, which is now the 6th largest inbound market for Australia in terms of spend.”
India is currently the fastest growing inbound market for Tourism Australia with five consecutive years of double-digit growth. The 2020 arrivals goal of 3,00,000 Indian visitors was achieved in December 2017, i.e three years ahead of target date.
Australia has always featured high in the consideration set of High Value Indian travellers, recording 3,72,100 arrivals from India in the year ended June 2019. This is an 11 per cent increase from the previous year.
Tourism Australia is undertaking many initiatives to manage the expected increase in visitors from India during 2020. Australia’s Department of Home Affairs allows travellers from India to apply for a visa online.
There is no requirement for personal interviews, submission of physical copy of your passport or financial documents or biometrics. The average time taken for an online visa to be processed is just 15 days, and the visa is valid for a period of 12 months.
Australia expects the number of Indian tourists to reach half a million by 2020 and one million by 2025.
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