A successful bid to host the Rugby World Cup in 2023 would generate an economic return for Ireland of as much as €800 million according to figures to be expanded upon at the Shannon Airport sponsored European Sport Tourism Summit in Limerick next month.
Thomond Park will be the venue for the event and for matches within that tournament should a bid be successful. Last week Sport for Business highlighted the search for bid advisers that is currently under way.
A gathering of experts from across the country and around the world will hear how Ireland can exploit its huge potential in what is the fastest growing sector in global tourism and win bids for major global events like the Rugby World Cup.
The FGAI’s successful bid to host matches in the Euro 2020 finals has shown that Ireland is capable of pitching and winning at the highest level and a bid to host the Women’s Rugby World Cup in 2017 is also under way.
“There is a lot of excitement here at home and internationally about Ireland’s bid to host the World Cup in 2023,” according to Keith Wood of W2 Consulting who are hosting the Summit.
“I believe that a Rugby World Cup in Ireland is one of few that would would break even as Ireland is such a popular tourism destination anyway, western Europe is the biggest global market for rugby and we have excellent access to facilitate that.
“It would attract up to 350,000 visitors and also generate anything up to €800m in revenue for the country and thousands of jobs.”
“Couple that with the €200m we anticipate sport tourism will be generating annually and you hit the €1bn mark in terms of revenue from sport tourism in one year. That’s the same amount that Northern Ireland is seeking to grow its entire tourism industry to by 2020.”
“Ireland is tailor made for sport tourism,” added Neil Pakey, CEO of Shannon Airport.
“It has great year round capability with fantastic natural outdoor infrastructure for all types of sport and adventure and then there is the unique sense of Irish hospitality that tourists the world over come here for as well.
“Here on the western seaboard, the Wild Atlantic Way is, in particular, a playground for sport tourism. It is already a major international destination for surfers, walkers, anglers, and the links courses here are incredible. We’ve even developed our own product here at the airport with our midnight Runway Run.”
Registration for the event is now open, with delegates hearing from leading international experts, including Chief Executive of the Commonwealth Games Federation David Grevemburg, who is deemed one of the world’s leading authorities in sport tourism; Paul Smith, Head of City Delivery for England Rugby World Cup 2015; Mike Laflin of SportCal, a global leader in sport market intelligence and Richard Hills, Managing Director of Ryder Cup Europe.
This year’s event will also include the inaugural Shannon Group plc sponsored European Sport Tourism Awards, as well as Industry Expert Sessions and the European Sport Tourism Academic Conference, both on Day Two.
Rob Hartnett of Sport for Business will be chairing one of the Industry Expert Sessions and members can obtain a 10% discount on tickets here.
