Rally ticks the sports tourism box
DESPITE initial concerns that the return of the Guernsey Rally was being announced on the morning of 1 April, it turned out to be serendipitous timing as the announcement dovetailed with the publication of A Framework for the Visitor Economy.
Contained within that report is what is described as ‘an obvious route to growth, albeit a difficult one, and that is to extend the season’. And primary in reaching that objective is to work with the Guernsey Sports Commission and sports organisers on shoulder month sports tourism – such as the Guernsey Rally.
The rally should tick many boxes for the tourism sector – it is bringing vehicles to the island, boosting Condor as a transport provider, it’s filling a fair number of bed nights out of season, and the visiting demographic is likely to be younger than our standard holidaymaker.
But the complaints have already started. While few people would be prepared to enjoy cars racing past their house in a quiet country lane, it should be recognised that this is a short-term individual pain for a long-term island-wide gain, for a couple of days – a couple of hours in some cases – in a year.
Meanwhile the argument that the rally should be stopped on environmental grounds remains spurious while Formula 1 and the likes continue to speed across the globe.
A predicted £80,000 in economic benefit means that this event should go ahead, hopefully to be backed up by more sporting events in the months to follow.