Mumbai: With the 2023 ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup - one of the world's most notable cricket tournaments – around the corner, the excitement amongst fans is palpable as sports tourism soars. Booking.com, the official accommodation partner for the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup 2023, launched its integrated campaign ‘Howzat for your perfect stay’, integrating the world of travel, cricket, and its passionate fans that make it happen. A press event was hosted in Mumbai with former Indian cricketer Zaheer Khan, Bollywood actor Varun Dhawan, and Booking.com country manager - India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia Santosh Kumar.

The campaign featuring Indian team captain Rohit Sharma along with well-known international cricketers Jos Buttler, captain of the England team, and Glenn Maxwell highlights the fun and excitement of booking with Booking.com. It showcases the end-to-end ease and incredible choice of accommodations that Booking.com offers by taking viewers through the journey of a family dreaming of their perfect cricket stay.

With more than 28 million reported listings in over 171,000 destinations worldwide, including destinations where ICC matches are taking place, Booking.com offers the widest selection of incredible places to stay including hotels, resorts, apartments, villas, and more.

On the sidelines of the event, Indiantelevision.com caught up with Booking.com country manager, India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia Santosh Kumar.

Edited Excerpts:

On the differentiation between Booking.com and its competitors

Number one, I would say the flexibility and convenience that we offer to our consumers. Second is the transparency in pricing because what you see on the first page when you get the search listing is ultimately the price that you book. There are no hidden fees of any sort, etc. So it’s very much consumer-focused. So I would say, those are the two key USPs.

On the specialty that Sports Tourism has, that other forms of tourism don’t

I think both sports and travel go pretty well because they both connect people, they help people see the destination and get access to experiences that they would not have otherwise. I think, in general, it also helps people connect across cultures. Sports is a great leveler and I think travel does the same. Therefore, I think they both go hand in hand.

On reaching out to tier-2 and tier-3 markets

Earlier this year, we introduced Hindi as a new language option to enhance our appeal to regional consumers seeking a localized experience. Hindi is now available both on our website and app. Our partners can access our platform in Hindi, allowing them to upload their property listings and manage their inventory in this language. Likewise, consumers can browse, search for, and make bookings in Hindi, making our services more accessible and relevant at the local level.

Hindi marks the first Indian language we've introduced, and it is the 46th language available globally on our platform. If it proves beneficial, we may consider launching additional regional languages in the future.

Furthermore, we are actively working to increase our local relevance in social media marketing, such as on Instagram, to better connect with Indian consumers. Additionally, through our investment in ICC Cricket-related initiatives, we hope that we’ll be able to bring about more brand awareness in tier-2 and 3 markets as well.

On future expansion plans

In general, we’ve obviously launched new categories beyond accommodation. We were primarily an accommodation player previously. Now we have launched, flights, cars, and attractions, with flights being live in over 50 countries globally now.

In India, it’s been live for about 18 months. We are also continuously expanding our range of attractions, forming partnerships with companies like Kluck and Viator in the Asia Pacific region. We want to become the one-stop shop for somebody who’s traveling.

Secondly, we’re investing also in the area of sustainability, because a lot of consumers want to travel more sustainably. They want to find sustainable options. So, we have a sustainable badge that we launched in 2021. This badge offers various levels of certification for accommodations and properties, allowing travelers to easily identify and choose sustainable options when booking.

This is our effort to continue to meet the net zero ambitions in the hospitality and travel industry.