Finding the fairway to success
IT’S no surprise that a Guernsey resident who has attempted to unite the focus of sport in a city as large as Bristol has clear ideas on how, and what, Guernsey could or should be doing to attract sports tourism.
Stephen Lansdown established Bristol Sport to pull together the city’s leading football team, Bristol City, its rugby club and its basketball team in one stadium.
Now he has turned his attentions closer to his home, and is redeveloping La Grande Mare as a high class golf course and resort.
He does believe that Guernsey can benefit from sports tourism – and that is the target for La Grande Mare.
But when it comes to bids to get the British Lions to pay us a visit – aside from all the related Covid controversy – that, he says, is a bridge too far. We don't have the right facilities for that.
‘If we want that sort of tourism, then we have to look to invest in that infrastructure,’ he says. And whether that investment would pay off would take some calculating.
But can Guernsey work with what it currently has? Absolutely.
Can, or will, others up their game to work alongside La Grande Mare? Mr Lansdown thinks so.
Can Guernsey and the new Tourism Management Board grasp this potential opportunity and drive it forward in the next couple of years? We look forward to finding out.