DreamSetGo, from the house of Dream Sports, was launched in 2019 to give sports fans across India access to the best sporting properties both in India and abroad. DreamSetGo aims to reach out to corporates and high net-worth individuals (HNIs) to offer them not only access to these events, but also in a luxurious way, which includes travelling with legends for these tournaments, meet-and-greets, and more.

DreamSetGo operates in India’s sports tourism market which is currently valued at close to USD 11,000 million and is expected to surge at a CAGR of 17.1% to reach a value of USD 52,967 million by 2033.

Manifest caught up with Monish Shah, founder and CEO, DreamSetGo, to learn more about the brand and its growth.

Edited excerpts:

DreamSetGo launched in 2019. And then came the pandemic, halting all possible travel. How did a company less than a year old react to that?

It was very clear to use the pandemic as a period to gear ourselves for what was coming post that. We used that time to hire the right people and build the right partnerships. During that time it was also important to tie up with athletes to keep our audience engaged in a certain way. During that time we had a lot of online meet and greets, and we had short videos that were used as birthday wishes from them.

While we were doing all of this, we were gearing up for revenge travel. We built nearly six to seven strong partnerships during this time. We tied up with Manchester City Football Club, Chelsea Football Club, and continued our dialogue with Manchester United Football Club and signed them nearly 10 months after that. During that period, we also tied up with F1 Experiences for all races. We tied up with Wimbledon, and ICC, and became the main agent for the T20 Men's World Cup which was going to happen in Australia at that time. 

So we built all these partnerships to gear ourselves up for servicing our clients from a travel and experiences standpoint so we could deliver the best. 

We also hired the best talent from the travel and events industry. Whenever we got the opportunity to travel during that period (when the Government would lift restrictions), we would go to the destinations where these events were going to take place and do our recce to prepare ourselves.

In terms of hiring talent and deals with events - did the pandemic help? There were layoffs in the travel and events industry at that time. So were you able to hire better at lower prices, and similarly, were deals with football clubs, and other sporting events at lower prices?

For us, it's vitally important to take care of our people. Our mindset and mentality weren't about hiring people at lower salaries. We paid them market standards and in some cases above that too, because it was a great way to build that trust with the team.

It didn't help in pricing for sporting events either. When it comes to minimum guarantees for larger tournaments and club associations, these are all long-term deals. It helped in terms of engagement and getting into deeper discussions because of a focussed approach that a lot of these sporting bodies and clubs had during the Covid period, but it didn't help in terms of a price discount.

In terms of getting the word out about DreamSetGo - what are the marketing efforts being undertaken? Would digital rank at the top?

It's a lot about word-of-mouth. That's the most important aspect. In terms of our culture, the most important bit is service. We want to ensure our clients are taken care of and have a great experience on-ground.

Our TG are corporates and high-networth individuals (HNIs). When a corporate or a group of 30 HNIs have a great experience, word of mouth spreads like wildfire. And then we keep communication ongoing with our clients. Our retention is great because we have clients come back. We do surveys which state that the satisfaction level of our clients is in the higher 90s. 

We have a few brand films and digital marketing to increase brand awareness. We also have influencer campaigns. But the main area is investing in the client's experience on-ground which helps with word-of-mouth. We want to engage our clients with good content and have a good channel for them to explore our offerings through digital. 

A passionate football fan in India could also be a cricket fan or a tennis fan. So are you seeing repeat customers?

Yes. A sports fan is a sports fan. The majority of the people we are seeing are following multiple sports. Someone who is following a football club is also very passionate about the Indian cricket team, an IPL franchise, and following Formula 1. So we are seeing this across. We've seen clients who have bought four different sports from us.

How many experiences did you end up selling last year?

We had 15,000 plus experiences sold during last year. Coming back to your last question, our repeat clients would be at more than 30%. 

With the ICC Men's ODI World Cup last year, we had several people buying experiences to travel to different cities. We had clients from Mumbai, Ahmedabad, and Jaipur among others travel to Kolkata for the India-South Africa game. The majority of our clients who attended the India-Pakistan game in Ahmedabad came from all across the country and even the USA and UK. 

What's the customer base outside of India like? 

At this moment our focus is India and the sports fan in India. Around 80% of our client base would be Indians in India. As we get more opportunities to cover marquee tournaments outside of India, like the ICC Men's T20 World Cup in the US and West Indies, we are onboarding a huge number of clients from the US domestic market. 

Similarly, in the UK, we have had multiple chances of onboarding clients for tournaments that are hosted in the UAE and India. But for the USA market, we were looking for an opportunity, and this World Cup has provided just that.

The World Cup and the Paris Olympics are pretty much back-to-back. Which means 2024 is quite busy. However, in 2025, we don't have a tournament of that scale. Is that why you're looking to pivot and add experiences of travelling with sporting legends to the likes of Masai Mara?

There's the Champions Trophy (scheduled to be hosted by Pakistan) next year that will be taking place in the first half of the year. We have the women's World Cup also and we're seeing demand there. We will be creating detailed packages around the tournament and are in talks with Australians, the English, and South Africans to support their teams during the tournament which is scheduled to be held in India. The IPL will continue to be big.

There's enough of sport that's happening. I wouldn't say we are pivoting. We're adding to the current offering that we have so that we can do more and more experiences for our clients.  

Any challenges you see in the sports travel industry?

No. At the moment it's all about opportunity to grow and it's a great time to be running a sports travel industry and that's an honest answer.