PHILIPSBURG:--- Sports Tourism Council St Maarten (STC) has reaped success at Teams 13 Sports Conference recently held in Salt Lake City, Utah. The four-day packed sports events executives and sports event organizers held various mutually beneficial appointments for their respective destinations.
It was the first time attendance by a representative from St Maarten. Destination St Maarten was represented by Sports Tourism Council St Maarten Executive Board Member Reggie Plaisir, Secretary.
Plaisir a sports consultant for 11 years scheduled 32 pre appointments to source sports tourism events to the destination. With 5 to 6 scheduled confirmed appointments per session Sports Consultant Reggie Plaisir met with multiple sports events organizers and suppliers.
From such meetings several projects are ready for Request For Proposal Stage. However, STC St Maarten has inked two deals in principle and several for consideration. Finalization of Agreements are pending until both parties sign officially.
Sport Tourism Events Deals in Progress:
- International Senior Softball Association - 10 Teams invited to St Maarten - agreed
- Half Marathon 13. 1 Miles - U.S. Run Marathon - 2014 & 2015 3, 000 Athletes - pending
- Triathlon - 5 K Run Holiday Run - The Color Run - 4, 000 Athletes - 2 Million Facebook friends
- AMP 1 Basketball Event - pending 20 Athletes 1 Team - Major USA Sponsor
- Premier Soccer Services - Youth Travel Teams 20 to 30 Teams
- St Maarten AAU International Youth Basketall Championships Invitional - pending
- Extreme Sports - USA Water Ski - Wake Board Event - 2014
- Other projects under development. STC Projects 11 to 12 International Sports Events Calendar for 2014. STC St Maarten is planning 2015 sports tourism events already and has plans to attend NASC Sports Events conference in March 2014 to attract more sports events the destination.
Furthermore, Team USA Water Ski Representative Site visit scheduled for December 2013 to explore and confirm feasibility of a May 2014 event on St Maarten.
The travel expenses of this trip was a combination of Corporate Partners Green House Restaurants, USA based law firm, Nagico and personal funds. No tourism government funds was issued for this very important niche market segment.
All other destinations present had development teams of tourism officials present. STC St Maarten could have been more succesful if appropriate travel budget was in place. Destination St Maarten should invest in Sports Tourism niche market to generate economic income to the destination.
STC St Maarten project an economic impact of $ 15 M USD or higher spending during the off season months for this sector within the next 3 to 4 years. Several Sports Tourism events comes with TV Rights that would further enhance and showcase our tourism product to the world. At Teams 13 several celebrities were present such as Former Presidential Candidate Mitt Romney and Emmy Award Sports Journalist Bob Costas. Sports Tourism is a multi billion dollar industry and several destinations in the region have entered the market with large development budgets.
