Discover Ireland is one of the largest single backers of major sports events in Ireland and figures published this week on the value of sports tourism in other jurisdiction show the immense value of sports tourism.
1.3 million visitors to Britain attended a sporting event in 2011.  That figure will be smashed in 2012 because of the Olympics but is still very high and very valuable even without that boost.  Of that number 900,000 attended a Premier League football match. A remarkable 174,000 of them travelled from Ireland.
The spending of sports tourists is also substantially higher than the average traveller.  A total spend of £706 million (€867 million) can be broken down to an average per visitor of £785€964) against the overall average of £583 (€716).
40% of foreign fans going to a football match said that watching sport was the main reason for visiting the UK. The research also suggests that football works as a highly effective tool in enticing visitors to Britain at some of the quieter times of the year, with the greatest proportion of inbound visitors going to a football match between January and March.
Visit Britain has used its partnership with the Premier League to film international players talking about where they love in Britain – the films are distributed online as part of specific campaigns across Europe, the US, Asia and South America.
In addition to spectators inbound tourism was boosted to a very high degree by those who played sport on their visit. The total spend and value to the British economy of sports tourism was £2.3 billion.
With sport a prominent driver of how Ireland’s Diaspora keeps in contact with its roots, the investment of Discover Ireland in events such as the Irish Open golf or the World Handball Championships should be seen very much not as central government propping up events but as a highly effective and valuable part of their marketing portfolio.
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