Stephen Ephraem Post Correspondent —
SPORTS tourism can be described as when people travel to a place to engage in sports-related activities or travel to view such sports-related activities.
Sports tourism is becoming a popular trend worldwide just like what other forms of tourism such as cultural tourism, religious tourism, music tourism and safari tourism are doing.
The first category of sports tourists travel to sports-related activities in order to actively participate in sporting disciplines for employment or income generation purposes. Such travellers might be the sportsmen/women themselves or their support staff. Others might take active roles in sport just for leisure purpose.
The second class of sports tourists travel to sports venues to witness sport events happening. Events that tend to attract tourists include Olympic Games, world cups such as International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup, International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup and Rugby World Cup.
Continental cups like Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League and African Cup of Nations (AFCON) are also sports tourist attractions.
The third group of people travel to popular sports-related destinations that have historical significance or they are still being used in this era. The Olympia area in Greece is one of the historical sport related building that attracts scores of people to that country. In 2012, it was visited by over five million people.
FIFA World Cup hosted by Brazil in 2014 was attended by over 3.4 million fans. Both Rugby World Cup hosted by England and ICC World Cup jointly hosted by Australia and New Zealand in 2015 were attended by over a million fans each.
Zimbabwe has sporting disciplines that include hockey, cricket, tennis, basketball, karate, soccer, netball, volleyball, golf, boxing, swimming and others.
Sporting disciplines that have seen Zimbabwe teams or individuals participate at world level include soccer, tennis, swimming, cricket and boxing. While every discipline has its own followers, cricket and soccer seem to be drawing larger crowds in the country.
Can cricket and soccer attract tourist into the country?
From mid-1990s to early 2000s, Zimbabwe Cricket team known as the Chevrons was a force to reckon. The country received sports tourists in the likes of Australia, India, West Indies, England, Bangladesh and South Africa cricket teams and their supporters.
The Chevrons fought bravely against opponents in One Day Internationals and Test matches that saw them defeat India in 1999. In 2003, Zimbabwe jointly hosted the ICC Cricket World Cup with South Africa and Kenya.
These days, the Chevrons team is not that competitive. They lost heavily against India last year and fans from abroad might find it difficult to come into the country to watch cricket matches involving the Zimbabwe squad.
Soccer is the main crowd puller in the country. Top-flight Premier Soccer League (PSL) teams like Dynamos, Highlanders, CAPS United and FC Platinum have strong support bases. Teams like Highlanders and Dynamos have been in the game for the past 50 years, can they draw tourists from abroad?
The two teams are always found wanting on the African platform. Dynamos won four consecutive league titles from 2011-2014 and Highlanders being second, but both teams failed to make an impression in the African jungle Confederation of African Football (CAF) Champions League. CAF matches are a chance where Zimbabwe can receive sports tourists in form of visiting teams and their fans. Also, if soccer teams are so competitive, outside teams can come to play friendly and challenge matches with them.
A good example was in July 2009 when European-based Manchester City descended into South Africa for a Vodacom Challenge Cup against Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. Although Manchester City won the cup, South Africa’s tourism sector smiled all the way to the bank.
With the present squabbles associated with Highlanders and Dynamos teams, can we expect any team of Manchester City’s status descending into Zimbabwe to play the two teams?
As is not enough, the country’s soccer governing board, Zimbabwe Football Association (ZIFA) and top-flight soccer union, Premier Soccer League (PSL) ended the 2016 season having unnecessary brawls over the number of teams to be relegated from the league and those to be promoted.
Can that kind of noise and fighting really attract sponsors and international sports tourists?
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