After hosting the World Cup in 2014, Brazil will be hosting the Olympics in August 2016. Over 50,000 people are expected to converge in Rio de Janeiro. Another 3.5 billion viewers will follow the event worldwide.
The awareness and knowledge this tournament will create for Rio de Janeiro is unrivalled.
This is any tourism official’s dream job, just like the annual Safaricom Marathon that takes place at the Lewa Conservancy. Though the scales are by no means comparable, that does not make our offering less important.
What began as a small event in 2000 grew from 180 runners raising $50,000 to over 1,200 runners in 2015 raising $640,000.
To date the marathon has raised over $5 million for conservation and community development across Northern Kenya. This marathon, to a large scale, has been able to curb poaching in the region.
The remarkable aspect of sport is its ability to draw people of any religious, ethnic or political belief into a world where the rules are universally scripted and the only concern is if your favourite team or sportswoman or man wins.
Sports add more tourism opportunities for the country and I applaud the Safaricom and Lewa teams for showing us all that it can be done. Sport is and has been for a long time, a popular part of our everyday social life.
Due to this, my ministry appreciates the importance of sports tourism as a way of involving previously marginalized communities to take part in the development of our industry and in the long run, our country.
I want to wish all the runners taking part in the Lewa Marathon this weekend the best of luck. I hope you all take time to sample the rich cultures of the Ameru, Ndorobo and Somali among other communities who live around the conservancy.
Take time to see the education, farming, water and medical projects all built with the money you so generously contributed to take part in the marathon.
We need to develop a profound understanding of the benefits and impact of sports tourism. We want to be involved in the process of bidding for events, possible sponsorship opportunities and other aspects involved in the planning and hosting of a successful global sport event.
The sport tourism market is a fast-growing sector of the global travel industry and equates to $600 billion a year.
My ministry will do everything to encourage sports tourism as a package in the Kenyan market. Recreational sporting facilities should be a requirement for starred hotels.
Visitors to Kenya will be spoilt for choice in football, rugby, cricket, polo, water sports and horse racing which are held throughout the year.
Major international sporting events bring the world to Kenya each year. Nairobi plays host to the annual Safari Sevens, a major rugby tournament featuring top international teams.
The Sevens team is ranked as one of the world’s best rugby teams, and each year, the event is a major highlight to our sports tourism calendar. Not forgetting the equally important Kenya Open Golf Tournament, held annually at the Karen Country Club.
It features a repertoire of local and international competition, and promises plenty of exciting action on the greens. More and more travelling golfers are now packing clubs when coming to Kenya for Safari.
The Kenyan coast is a paradise for beach sports such as deep-sea fishing and water surfing in the Indian Ocean. The coast has the best hotels and on the beaches, guests can go scuba diving and snorkeling.
Lake Victoria is another great place for water surfing and deep-sea fishing on its islands
Kenya has a lot to offer in this sector and my ministry will play its role to see to it that it happens.
