Piesing eyes joint tourism approach
STAG founder David Piesing has reacted to news that Jersey is to plough £1.25m. of government money into one single sports event over five years, saying that unlike Guernsey the States of Jersey clearly recognises and values the concept of sports tourism.
After months of negotiations, the return of Super League Jersey was finally confirmed yesterday, with the organisers behind the international million-dollar triathlon franchise having penned a new five-year deal with States officials.
It follows on from the success of its debut appearance last September when many of the world’s best triathletes descended on the Waterfront for a two-day sporting extravaganza.
Olympians Jonny and Alistair Brownlee are believed to be among those signed up for the upcoming series, which will travel to all four corners of the globe and could attract worldwide audiences in excess of 300 million.
While Jersey’s 2018 leg could amount to a five-day sporting festival, Piesing said it would be great to work with the sister isle on big events such as this.
‘Whilst staffing events of this scale is realistically beyond Guernsey due to having a much smaller hotel bed stock than Jersey, it is crystal clear that Guernsey should identify suitably viable sports tourism events which are right for us, and then find the money to back them accordingly,’ said the man driving the newly set-up Sports Tourism Action Group.
‘Is there also some merit in us exploring working with Jersey to jointly promote the Channel Islands as a major sport tourism destination, with some suitable events alternating each year between the two islands,’ he also asks.
While Guernsey sport struggles on with a tourism budget of just £28,000, up to £250,000 a year has been granted by the States of Jersey to stage the big triathlon event, which in 2017 had average viewing figures of more than 625,000 per minute during a 10-hour live stream. Television broadcasts reached 147 countries.
Super League Triathlon chief executive Michael Dhulst said: ‘This partnership will drive global awareness and bring audiences from all over the globe to Jersey.
‘We are delighted to be working with the Department for Economic Development, Tourism, Sport & Culture, Visit Jersey and Locate Jersey for the next five years so we can continue to bring our world-class, action-packed event to Jersey for everyone to enjoy.’
Jersey’s Economic Development minister Lyndon Farnham said: ‘This is a good example of where sport and economic development can work together and this year there will be a public element to the event.
‘We’ll be releasing details on that in the near future.
‘Super League attracts the biggest names in the sport, and we’ll have many of those from last year back again, and some rising stars as well. It has got the potential to bring more people to the island, including keen amateur participants, at a time when we have a gap in the visitor economy, and the national and international coverage is phenomenal. It will introduce Jersey to a new generation of visitors and sports fans.’
