The East Midlands Development Agency, East Midlands Tourism and Sport England East Midlands are hosting a one day conference to provide an opportunity to hear the results of the studies commissioned on the impact of major sporting events hosted in the region, and to participate in a range of workshops planning the future development of Sport Tourism in the East Midlands.

The event at Holywell Park Conference Centre, Loughborough University on 28th November will comprise both presentations and interactive workshops hosted by experts in sports and tourism.

Sports related tourism makes a significant contribution to the wealth of the East Midlands and the conference will reveal just how much the economy really does benefit. With a view to attracting 2012 Olympic tourists to the East Midlands, the conference aims to forge working relationships that will enable the region’s tourism industry to capitalise on Britain hosting the Olympic Games.

Since 1972 the Olympic Games has shown a profit every year. London is forecasting the creation of 10,000 jobs prior to 2012 and the employment of 9,000 people during 2012. Of those, 3,000 will be from East London but the others will come from around the country.

Estimates about the additional revenue from tourism vary, but the Olympic track record is strong. Barcelona doubled its number of tourists in the 10 years following the 1992 games and cities such as Seville also benefited from a knock on effect of tourism. It also became the sixth most attractive European city to locate a business, an elevation from 11th place.

Sydney generated £1.2 billion addition business following the 2000 Games, and only £200 million of that was in New South Wales. Tourism increased and media coverage to the value of £2.5 billion was gained.

Sport England’s Regional Sports Board Chair, Len Jackson is convinced that sports related tourism presents an opportunity for economic growth in the East Midlands. “The East Midlands needs to act swiftly to ensure that it benefits from the Olympics. We need to establish working partnerships aimed at growing the sports tourism sector in the region.”

The East Midlands is already home to the second most popular national park in the world, the Peak District, a haven for hikers, bikers and lovers of the outdoors. It attracts 21 million visitors per year and much of the economic impact of those visitors can be categorised as sports tourism.

Ten percent of tourism in the East Midlands can currently be attributed to sports tourism, contributing £400 million to the region’s economy every year and supporting 25,000 businesses.

The Test Match is an excellent example of sports tourism bringing revenue into the local economy. The England vs South Africa Test in 2003 generated £1.1 million for the local economy and welcomed 73,000 visitors over five days. Over half of those were from outside the region. The impact of the recent England vs Australia Test is still being assessed

But it’s not just the highest profile events that contribute to the economy. Findings from a year long sports tourism study focused around five regional events will be presented at the conference. According to the study, commissioned by East Midlands Development Agency (emda), even a ‘loss-leading’ event such as the International Synchronised Skating Championships at the National Ice Arena in Nottingham generated around £100,000 to the economy.

Without making the back page of the sports press, smaller lower profile events still attract overnight stays and spending in local restaurants as a minimum. With some cross marketing and promotion those visitors could be enticed to visit our parks and attractions.

The East Midlands is well placed with key sporting venues such as Silverstone, Trent Bridge, Donington Park, Burghley House, Holme Pierrepont and Loughborough University to attract events and then disperse visitors around the region. It is also well place to welcome foreign teams preparing and training for the 2012 games.

Tim Garfield, Regional Director of Sport England commented: “Interest in coming to Britain will undoubtedly increase. The real challenge is to prepare our venues, our events and our people so that we are working with National Federations and international media at the earliest opportunity to put the East Midlands at the forefront.”

Consultation is currently taking place in the lead up to the publication of the revised Regional Economic Strategy (RES) in April 2006. The strategy aims to place the East Midlands as one Europe’s top 20 regions by 201. The revised RES will set the scope and framework for the continued development and economic progress of the region up to 2020. Sport has a considerable role to play in this.

The value and potential impact of sports tourism cannot be overlooked, especially as every region of Britain will be vying for their slice of the Olympic cake in the lead up to 2012 and beyond.

The conference in Loughborough takes place on 28th November, bookings through PAWA Consulting Ltd on info@pawa.co.uk. People that will benefit from this event will be any tourism dependent businesses, Tourism bodies, regional media, sports related industries, public sector organisations and individuals with a tourism portfolio.