Lancashire Cricket hosted a ‘Destination Manchester’ trade networking event in Bengaluru, India, this week to showcase Manchester as a premier tourist and investment destination.
The event, held at the Conrad Bengaluru, brought together senior business leaders from India and the UK, focusing on Manchester’s dynamic investment landscape and its growing appeal to Indian tourists.
Held in association with Visit Britain, Manchester India Partnership, and Marketing Manchester, ‘Destination Manchester’ is part of Lancashire Cricket’s ongoing efforts to strengthen ties between the UK and India, leveraging the shared passion for cricket to create opportunities across tourism, business, and investment.
Key figures from the travel, tourism, and sports sectors attended the event. Chandru Iyer, Deputy High Commissioner to Karnataka and Kerala, was present, highlighting the strengthening business relationship between India and the UK.
“The business relationship between India and England has been strong and long-term,” said Iyer.
“Recent actions, such as visits by UK ministers to India and the opening of a new Indian consulate in Manchester, along with the announcement of new flights between India and Manchester by Indigo, are good indicators of the growing links between the two countries, especially in economic growth.”
The UK Government recently announced over £100million worth of Indian investments into the UK. The investments strengthened UK-India economic linkages and showcased exciting opportunities for Indian companies looking to grow in the UK.
Lancashire Cricket is actively supporting bilateral trade discussions between the UK and Indian governments. The club is also poised to enhance its relationship with India through exclusive talks with Indian conglomerate, RPSG Group, regarding the acquisition of a stake in Manchester Originals.
Commenting on that proposed deal, Raam Shankar, a Board Member at The Manchester India Partnership, said: “Investing in the Manchester Originals is a fantastic move because that will increase the interaction and the relationship, and it’ll enhance what is already a very solid partnership.”
The profiles of Lancashire Cricket and the Manchester Originals have been greatly enhanced in India thanks to a partnership with Jio Entertainment Services which sees Lancs TV streamed to Jio’s 500 million subscribers across the country.
Discussing the opportunities between the Indian and UK media markets, Kaushal Modi, Head of Content Acquisition at Jio Entertainment Services, said: “It’s been a great opportunity to learn and understand a little bit more about the distribution channels that we could create, and the culture within the Indian market, and spend some great time with our fantastic partners at Lancashire Cricket.”
Destination Manchester also featured presentations for the travel trade, focusing on Manchester’s offerings. Suzanne Periera, Senior Vice President Trade Relationships, Communications & Service Quality, Thomas Cook (India), spoke about the importance of cricket in fostering connections and the potential for increased MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, and Exhibitions) business between India and the UK.
“Cricket has that great bonding factor. Corporate India enables a huge opportunity for MICE business and that is lovely over a game of cricket. MICE is a very big segment for us.”
2023 marked the end of a 15-year, £75 million investment project to create Destination Emirates Old Trafford. The award-winning, sustainable, and multi-purpose venue and hotel has developed a reputation for delivering inspirational conferences, meetings, incentives, multi-day events, award-dinners and more.
Iconic modern event spaces including The Point and The Edge cater for events of up to 2,000 people with an on-site, four-star, 250-bed Hilton Garden Inn hotel and international travel links via Manchester Airport, making the venue is a popular choice for overseas businesses, visitors, tourists, and cricket fans.
Indeed, this July, Emirates Old Trafford will host England Women v India Women on with the venue aiming to set a new record for the highest women’s International crowd in the north of England, followed by a Men’s Test Match later the same month.
To conclude the event, a prize draw took place with Vignesh Kamath from Manipal Technologies Limited winning a trip to Emirates Old Trafford to enjoy this summer’s Women’s IT20 and Roses T20, which both take place in Manchester during July. The 72-hour trip includes a special itinerary put together by Marketing Manchester, to display the best that the city has to offer.
Speaking about the event, Lancashire Cricket’s Chief Executive, Daniel Gidney, said: “We’ve had a fantastic experience once again in Bengaluru for our annual men’s and women’s pre-season tour. Destination Manchester brought together influential business leaders from both India and the UK and showcased all that Manchester has to offer as both a tourist destination and as a dynamic investment landscape.
“Lancashire Cricket is proud of its deep-rooted relationship with India, and this is set to strengthen further as we look to complete the deal with RPSG and welcome both the men’s and women’s Indian Cricket Teams to Emirates Old Trafford in 2025.
2025 marked the fourth year-in-a-row the Club has travelled to India for pre-season preparations, a country the Red Rose shares a long-held connection with stretching back more than 50 years when Indian International wicketkeeper batter Farokh Engineer joined the County in 1968.
