GET Lionel India, the KK Birla group’s travel company on Thursday announced its foray into sports tourism. The primary focus of this initiative will be to promote sporting lifestyle & leisure activities amongst children and adults.

Towards this end, GET Lionel India has launched a joint marketing initiative with SportzVillage, a Bangalore based organization, which focuses on sports education for children & corporate sporting events, to promote sports related tour itineraries primarily focused on school children in the age group of 9-15 years.

These itineraries will be to select domestic and international destinations and in addition to leisure activities, will focus on sports training, education and competitive interaction with local teams. The first such group is scheduled to leave in May for Goa. Further activities under this umbrella will be rolled out across the metros in a phased manner.

Sports Tourism is a growing niche market in India. It is estimated that in the next three years over a 100,000 Indians will travel exclusively for watching sports related events internationally. This trend will be particularly significant with football, cricket, tennis, golf and formula one enthusiasts.

Gaurav Sundaram, CEO, GET Lionel India and Director Asia, GET said, “GET Lionel has strong operational capabilities and credibility in managing sports related tourism in India. We firmly believe that promoting sports tourism is integral to the development of a sporting culture in the country, especially amongst children. SportzVillage’s current engagement with children and corporate sporting events makes them an ideal partner for this initiative”.

Saumil Majmudar, Director, SportzVillage, Bangalore said,  “As one of India’s leading grass root level professionally-run sports organization, SportzVillage’s mission is to create champions in life through the magical medium of sports. The sports tourism initiative will go a long way in providing a high-quality sporting experience as well as help develop a passion for sports and fitness in children and adults. We are pleased to partner with GET Lionel India and combine their domestic and international travel expertise with our professional sports services for children and corporates."