Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/405793
Before we look a little closer to home, lets define sports tourism. Sports tourism is travel outside of your local community for either active or passive participation in competitive sport. Sports tourism can be further bro- ken down into two broad categories. The first is travel for the purpose of watching a sporting event. Think about watching the FIFA World Cup in Brazil rather than from the comfort of that big easy chair in your living room. It typically does not include attending a game of your favorite NFL or NBA team in the city where you reside. Think of it as bringing out- side dollars into a community. The second sports tourism category is traveling for the purpose of partici- pating in a sports activity. This doesn't include just professional athletes; this is anyone and everyone from the novice golfer or skier to an Olympian. We've often heard cities bid astro- nomical sums of money to host events like the Olympics, World Cup and the Super Bowl. Those bids must then be followed up in most cases by building infrastructure that costs additional tens of millions of dollars. Why do cities bid on mammoth events? It's about long-term recognition, percep- tion and money. A well-hosted Olympics, Super Bowl or an NBA All Star Game can't be measured in immediate economic impact. Depending on the destina- tion, the down stream value of such an event might not be known for years. When South Africa hosted the World Cup back in 2010, one of its pri- mary goals was to change the percep- tion that the country was only a sum- mer time destination. The games were actually played in the winter (our summer in North America). This helped reduce the gap between sum- © Greater Miami Convention & Visitors Bureau – The Official Destination Sales & Marketing Organization for Greater Miami and the Beaches. So someone tried to tell you why meeting in Miami's so inspiring, so exciting and so productive. Know this. No tweet, snapshot or posting will ever be enough. You so have to meet here to get it. 305-539-3071 | MiamiMeetings.com ATA player in Action 41 B M & T ••• July/August 2014 ••• www.blackmeetingsandtourism.com