Shuttle tourists to storm India

A new form of tourism has taken shape over the last few years — what might be called ‘Badminton Tourism’.

Hardcore followers of the sport have always been keen on visiting high-profile tournaments around the world, but it’s only in recent times that they have begun organising themselves into groups, and looking for more than just badminton action.

Among the many fans worldwide who will journey to Hyderabad for the World Championships in August will be a group of 15 French tourists. A brainchild of French journalist Raphael Sachetat, chief editor of the online magazine Badzine, this form of organised tourism for badminton fans began during the 2006 World Championships at Madrid.

“Madrid was close to Paris and cheap to travel to,” Raphael told DNA. “So we booked a low cost plane, an old hostel in the centre of Paris — fans had to share a room with 10 beds, like a youth hostel — and we had a very cheap but fun trip. There were 25 people then.

“The year after, in 2007, we all flew in to Kuala Lumpur. It was a different group, but Kota Kinabalu in a nice resort. People had a lot of fun and word-of-mouth made it famous in France.”

By then, Raphael had figured out that there was tremendous interest in the badminton community not just for the action, but for cultural experiences. With that in mind, he organised a ‘reverse’ trip where fans could attend the French Open Super Series and live in France as guests of residents. Twenty hosts offered their homes for fans from all over the world. “Things worked out great,” says Raphael. “Hosts and guests are still in touch in most cases.”

For the India trip, however, organisers were jittery because of rumours of the championships being shifted out of India. “India was of course appealing for the exoticism of the country. We were at some point worried that the event would be cancelled, so we asked ourselves whether we should take the risk of organising the trip anyway,” says Raphael.

“Most of the fans said they’d go to India anyway, even if the event was cancelled, a good sign that they really wanted to discover the country.”

Raphael got in touch with a travel company in Bangalore who arranged a ‘package deal’ — apart from their stay in Hyderabad, they will travel through some of Karnataka’s most stunning locales, including the ancient temple sites of Belur and Halebid. The trip will culminate with a three-day holiday in Goa. The group — consisting of some who can play badminton at a fairly high level — is also hoping to play some matches either in Bangalore or Hyderabad with club players.

Among the group are fans of diverse ages, backgrounds and professions. Aged between 20 and 50, the group includes an architect and a plastic surgeon. Most are players, and some were within France’s top-100. “Some are not so interested in badminton but want to discover culture mainly,” says Raphael.