The global sport tourism industry is expected to reach a whopping $ 1.8 Trillion By 2030 according to the World Tourism Organization (WTO), projections for the next 10 years.
Editor-in-chief of Power Sportz, Kanthni, D. Suresh says there is enormous potential for the Sport business in the coming years noting that the Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) is expected to experience a 16.1% increase from 2021 to 2030.
According to we-are-africa.org, as the year 2021 draws to a close, most businesses in India have gone through a turbulent time due to the Covid pandemic, although some of them have done extremely well to become unicorns. But what is common to all is that they all look to 2022 with optimism. KreedOn spoke to Kanthi D Suresh, Editor-in-chief of Power Sportz understand the expectations and scope of Sports Tourism in 2022.
How would you sum up the 2021 route for Power Sportz?
“The year 2021 started with a feeling of victory over the pandemic, to then be rushed in such a way that we hope to be able to forget! First, we are thankful that we are just alive and well. But, within the crisis comes the seeds of opportunity. We realized how digital was developing and how human behaviors were changing and were able to empower our product with the right mix of content, creativity and technology.
Why do you think this digital habit will continue as people seek to get back to their normal lives?
The pandemic could have forced people to adapt to digital technology in all aspects of life, but at the same time people were also made to understand the benefits that come with it. It has now become a habit and good habits are just as addicting! I don’t see that changing. The Internet has now become a way of life and Internet devices have become the medium for work and entertainment!
How do you see the Sports business developing in this situation?
If you notice that around the world, many countries are now adopting alternative sources of income generation, just as we are all doing. Countries that traditionally depended on their natural resources are now focusing on the tourist destination. Sports tourism is expected to grow over the next 10 years and is expected to reach $ 1,803.70 billion by 2030, with a CAGR of 16.1% from 2021 to 2030, according to the World Tourism Organization. I see enormous potential for the Sport business in this area.
But how does Power Sportz fit into the whole spectrum of sport tourism growth?
I think that OTT and sports tourism are very closely linked. A country that wants to develop Sports tourism needs an OTT partner for global reach. This is where we come in. Our cloud-based technology allows us to uplink from any part of the world and downstream on a global scale. This is how we plan to support this growing segment. I think any country that has a contribution of almost 10% of tourism to its GDP is a country we would like to focus on.
So, is it about acquiring the rights to sports properties hosted in this type of country?
Yes, definitely his. We cannot enter any country without the proper acquisition of rights. But to further facilitate, we are creating sports properties that may be of interest to these countries. Cricket and football are the 2 most popular sports in the world. Over the months, we have been able to strengthen our Talent Acquisition division.
Our human resources division which has been in existence for over a decade. It has enough bandwidth for global talent acquisitions. And has worked well to build a strong talent base of players and support staff. The combination of Sports Properties and our streaming technology makes our product add value to countries looking to become sports destinations.
Power Sportz grabbed the headlines recently for inviting Usain Bolt to also be part of a t20 league you’re ready to run.
HA HA, ..yes, I read that too. It was also everywhere in the international media. We have definitely invited Usain and would love to see him play in a T20 League. Power Sportz believes talent is valuable and should be used in every way possible. We are in awe of the cricket talent that we have found across the world. And we’ve covered India, UK, Australia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Pakistan, West Indies… the list goes on. So what do we see in 2022? Our hard work, effort and passion continues. But, we hope that all our efforts in 2021, to bear fruit soon in 2022.
