Gary Kirsten eyes cricket
tourism with new business venture
Launches a travel company
‘Gary Kirsten Travel & Tours’
Legendary cricketer, Gary Kirsten has collaborated with
Cape Africa Tours to launch Gary Kirsten Travel & Tours in South Africa.
Following the demand for coaching at his Cricket Academy in Cape Town and
Durban, the idea was conceived to start a Travel and Tours division to offer
individuals and teams a complete travel package.
The initiative is the brainchild
of Gary Kirsten and Andrew Russell, Owner of Cape Africa Tours. Russell
has been organising inbound sports tours to South Africa since January 2000 and
is a registered member of SATSA (Southern Africa Tourism Services
Association). Kirsten launched his Cricket Academy in Cape Town and Durban
and with his enormous profile in world cricket; there was immediate interest
from both domestic and overseas players and teams.
The Cricket Academy has witnessed
an encouraging response from the Indian market as well with 24 budding
professionals already having visited the academy in October 2013. Many more
groups from India are soon expected to train at the Academy until February 2015.
"Teams want to know they are
travelling with a reputable, experienced Tour Operator – and with fourteen
years of experience in the industry, and having handled countless inbound tours
catering for all ages and abilities, Cape Africa Tours was the natural choice
for us to partner with. We are excited about affording local players the
opportunity to compete against talented international players and of course,
having the opportunity to showcase South Africa's facilities and cricket talent
to the rest of the world," commented Gary
Kirsten
In the attempt to further
popularize the Academy among the target audience, plans are on for an Under 15
and 18 T20 Festival for Cape Town in December 2015 and an Under 13 and 18
Festival in February 2016. This would allow participants and cricket enthusiasts
enough time to plan their trip and book tickets well in
advance.
According to Russell, “Gary is one of South
Africa and the world’s cricketing icons – not only as a player who represented
his country in 100 Tests and 185 One Day Internationals, but also as the World
Cup winning Coach of India in April 2011 and more recently as Coach of the
Proteas and the Delhi Daredevils. His Academy is now his passion and the
place where he offers hands-on coaching for individuals and teams. This
is not just another case of an International player lending his name to a
business venture; Gary is heavily involved on a daily basis with his Academy –
and loves nothing more than being in the nets with aspiring young
cricketers. My experience dealing with touring teams offers Gary the
opportunity to focus on the coaching aspects and for us to handle all the
travel and tour details. It is the perfect fit for both of us and I look
forward to working with Gary and his GKCA coaches in the years ahead.”
Talking about his plans for the
India market Russell said, “Indians are extremely
passionate about cricket and their love and admiration for Gary. To promote our
new venture, we will be marketing the same during IPL 2015 and with the Proteas
tour to India in October/November 2015 we have another opportunity to leverage.
We know that it is not going to happen overnight, participating at the South
African Tourism’s Annual Roadshow in February will be our first step towards
marketing the tour division in India but we are in here for the long-haul; we
see this as a 5 day game, not a T20. We expect huge demand from the Indian
market in the times to come.”
Over the years, South Africa has
witnessed an incredible increase in tourist arrivals from India. 2013 recorded
1 12 672 Indian tourists visiting South Africa which was an increase of 5.5%
vis-Ã -vis 2012. The year 2014 has also started on a good note for South African
Tourism with 17 016 Indians having visited the destination in the first two
months.
For further information please
visit www.garykirsten.com .
For enquiries please write in to travel@garykirsten.com
For
media Contact
S
Krishna Moorthy ISr. Account ManagerI Avian
Media
1G, 1st Floor, 758, Mount Chambers,
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Anna Salai, Chennai 600 002
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