GGA President Aleem Hussain giving instructions to a beginner at the Guyana Golf Academy

Oct 05, 2020 Sports

GGA President Aleem Hussain giving instructions to a beginner at the Guyana Golf Academy.

Kaieteur News – Sporting events have been amongst the hardest hit as a result of Covid-19, and by affiliation Sports Tourism has suffered tremendously. President of the Guyana Golf Association (GGA) Aleem Hussain had raised the idea of creating sporting events from a variety of sports disciplines for streaming online to virtual audiences in the Diaspora, fans who are loyal to all things homegrown, in an effort to boost revenues in Guyana but the concept was disregarded.“Now, with travel somewhat nonexistent and tourism in shambles according to the latest IDB report, maybe those ideas he presented to unify actions and create funds to help all sports should be revisited.“Too often, the burden has been placed on the government and large businesses to carry the cost of funding sports activities. Hussain proposes that instead of simply spending, investment should be made in a business model that produces revenues that can self-fund future events and grow other sporting disciplines.
“Hussain feels that events using the most popular sports should be funded and created for a virtual broadcast. “All the sponsors involved should receive advertising of their branding and services as a return on their investment and all funding partners/sponsors should receive a minimum of 10% profit on the money contributed for the life of the project,” he added.“He further stated that 20% of the revenues should be set aside for the development of other sports while a percentage should be paid to promoters.
“Events should be designed to attract a decent number of viewers who will pay a small fee to view the event while tourism companies such as hotels, restaurants, tour operators and airlines can build their brand by advertising.”“He said that more jobs in the sports and media industry can be created by hosting mega-events twice per week than an occasional grand event. “The two-hour broadcast can be used to promote the country, something we normally wouldn’t be able to afford to pay for if we had to buy airtime.”““While international advertising costs on average US$25-35,000 per thirty second commercial, we will have approximately 75 advertising spots per event, absolutely free which will help to bring future travelers to the country.”““We should choose the top five sports that are most likely to fit this model and all Sports Associations presidents should work together to create the super interesting activities that everyone wants to watch and help build the lesser developed sports from the shared revenues.”““Let us change the mindset from hat in hand, seeking constant handouts from sponsors and government, to a business proposition that creates independence.
This will eliminate donor fatigue and build a system that is self reliant, not fluctuating due to funding availability or lack thereof from the state.“Bringing the idea of virtual sports tourism to life is no longer a dream but quite possibly the only way to compete and survive in this new post-Covid world,” Hussain emphasised. He said that despite the current state of affairs, something can be done to help the sporting industry.“

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