Sporting events and tourism— Bangladesh context

Games of various types and major sports are characterised nowadays by amusement, recreation as well as friendship in all societies.  In ancient times, sporting activities were confined to small geographical areas and states, but these days the events have expanded to all the corners of the world. And due to the satellite communication technology, it has enabled the people around the world to enjoy sports live, which was not possible even a few decades ago. A wide range of international sporting events takes place round the year in different parts of the world, sometimes by rotation. Among the international sporting events, the Olympic Games, World Cup Football, World Cup Cricket and Asian Games and some other regional events normally top the list. In the excitement and enthusiasm surrounding international sports, economy also plays a major role. It is one reason that has for some time been driving the countries to play host to these events. It is a well-established fact that the capability of arranging these sporting events reflects the host countries' certain abilities, including its economic status and strength. Interestingly, the arrangement of   mega international events helps a country in providing impetus to its economy.
Economic factors instill momentum into sport events worldwide. One of the most important features about sporting events is that they allow the country concerned to project and promote its tourism facilities, infrastructure and other attractions to the rest of the world. The host countries spend huge sums of money in arranging the inaugural and closing ceremonies. Spending millions of dollars for making the programmes attractive, host countries try to stress their branding as a 'lucrative tourist destination'. We have seen how South Africa became successful in attracting world attention through arranging the 2010 FIFA World Cup. World economic giants like China, the USA, Canada, Russia, France, Japan and Brazil have hosted mega sport events like Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, FIFA World Cup and Winter Olympics. The facilities and infrastructure and the management skills they have built for the particular games over time allowed them to host the events successfully. Not only that, the USA, one of the most popular sport destinations in the world, spends a lot of money for arranging both domestic and international events. The following statistics allows us to have an idea about how they reap the benefits of sport events by creating jobs and promoting tourism:     
n  Sport is the sixth-largest industry in the United States, generating $650 billion annually, and spending $27.8 billion on advertising.
n Annual spending for special events worldwide is estimated at $500 billion.
n The tourism industry contributes more than $812.9 billion annually to the nation's economy, and generates $124 billion in tax revenue, and is the world's largest industry. One out of every nine New Jersey workers has a job in tourism, with a total of 470,000 direct and indirect jobs, accounting for 11.4 per cent of total employment and, approximately, $16 billion in wages and salaries.
n The projected growth rate of employment in the events, sport and entertainment sectors, is 44 per cent, according to the US Department of Labour Statistics.
Various types of games and sporting events can contribute to the economy in different ways. As the Bangladesh economy is improving in different sectors, we ought to take into consideration the avenues through which we can utilise sport and other events for the betterment of the economy. It is not wise and pragmatic to turn large-scale sporting events into a few days' amusement programmes and draining out a huge amount of public money. Sport events should be focused on attaining multiple objectives, one of them being projecting the country's tourism attractions and resources. Moreover, the tourism sector has to be turned into a huge sector creating employment for people, thus enhancing economic growth.
Bangladesh has proved itself to be quite successful in arranging international sport events, like the World Cup Cricket, though partially, and, lately, the T2O event. There was much speculation about the fate of the Asia Cup and the T2O due to the recent political turmoil. But everyone extended cooperation and support wholeheartedly in arranging the scheduled matches. We can, therefore, expect that more such events will take place in the country in the future.
Now let us see what we have gained from these events. Usually, before such events we see some activities, especially decorating and repairing streets, installing colourful bulbs and tubes, illuminating the main roads, special drives making streets neat and clean, recovering the footpaths from the hawkers by law-enforcement agencies and giving the sporting areas a new look -- at least for a couple of months. Unfortunately, the streets revert to their previous shabby condition in a very short time, which has already been witnessed during ICC World Cup and the T20. The same streets were repaired during the World Cup Cricket in 2011, and had to be rebuilt once again within two years. For these events, the government spent a huge amount of money. The sum could have been spent for development activities. That's why we need to assess what we have gained out of the expensive arrangement of the sport events.
Through arranging mega sport events, a country usually projects its tourist spots during the games, and a large number of tourists visit the country both for enjoying the sports and sight-seeing. At the same time, different sport organisations, media personalities and high-profile corporate executives visit a country as it hosts a sport event. Sport events normally attract the world attention, especially that of the participating countries.
As the T20 ICC World Cup was participated by Asian, European, Australian, Caribbean and African countries, there was a scope to promote the country as a 'wonderful tourist destination'. Even industrial and business achievements of the country could have been showcased during the sporting events. Before arranging such sporting events the policymakers should focus on the underlying opportunities of these events. A well-thought-out plan in this regard could offer us great tourism prospects, country branding, foreign direct investment (FDI), and other trading opportunities.
The writer is a PhD researcher, Department of Marketing,               University of Dhaka. seahsan@gmail.com