The star-studded touring Indian cricket team could deliver New Zealand Cricket its best financial year yet, due to the dollar value of the team's worldwide popularity.
Poised to boost earnings through lucrative broadcasting rights for the five-week tour, New Zealand Cricket chief executive Justin Vaughan said the sheer volume and passion of Indian fans around the world made this tour three times more valuable than any other.
"This year should be the best year New Zealand Cricket has ever had."Last year NZC earned $35 million, of which television rights were the largest contributor, Mr Vaughan said.
The Indian tour was by far the most valuable because of its sheer viewing potential, with India's population the second largest in the world and huge expatriate communities in Britain and the United States.
An estimated two-thirds of global revenue from world cricket stems from India alone.However, the last Indian cricket tour of New Zealand in 2002 was not a great money spinner, Mr Vaughan said. "I think you have seen the economic engine inside India surge and the whole commercialisation of cricket has taken another step over the last four years."
The rights to broadcast India-New Zealand matches in Asia, wrapped up in a contract signed with Sony Entertainment Television last year, were worth three times those of 2002, he said.New Zealand Trade and Enterprise and Tourism New Zealand were piggybacking the tour as well, inviting business leaders and journalists to visit New Zealand during the next five weeks.
Tourism NZ chief executive George Hickton said the Indian tour was a perfect platform to raise New Zealand's profile as a holiday destination.As well as a media contingent, seven top tourism executives would be hosted on a five-day tour coinciding with games in Christchurch and Wellington."Using the lure of the cricket to get chief executives and directors from major travel companies is a great way to get key contacts to come to New Zealand and promote it to potential visitors," he said.
NZTE had invited high-profile Indian business people, including Bangalore billionaire Vijay Mallya, owner of Kingfisher Airlines and United Breweries Group.NZTE group general manager Jack Stephens said research showed that forging links through common ground such as cricket was a distinct opportunity to open up business relationships with India.
"Several senior Indian business people with a broad range of business and cricket interests are likely to be here during the tour, and they are being invited to other activities that are being planned jointly by these agencies and New Zealand Cricket."Mr Vaughan said domestic tourism would not see a windfall from the tour because Indians were not traditional tour followers in the way England cricket fans were.
But Mr Vaughan expected gate receipts to be boosted by intense interest from the local Indian community."We'll particularly see it around the Auckland and Hamilton region, where the majority of New Zealand's Indian community are based. We're expecting really good crowds."