MALAYSIA'S SPORTS INDUSTRY IS LUCRATIVE UNTAPPED MARKET

KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 8 (Bernama) -- Malaysia needs to diversify its sports industry as
there is a vast potential of untapped market worth millions of

Ringgit waiting for grabs, Australian Sports Commission's Commercial and

Facilities Director Steve Jones said Saturday.


He said the Australia Institute of Sports (AIS), one of the established

sports institute in the region, for example had diversified its involvement in

the sports industry instead of being limited to the traditional sports

businesses.

"AIS has its own business strings related to sports industries such as tours for
tourists, merchandise shop, cafe, catering, accommodation, conference,

holiday programmes and childcare centres which generate income for the

institute," he told the two-day Malaysia Sports Industry Convention 2009 (Kismas

09) here.


The convention which concluded today was organised by the Youth and Sports

Ministry with the objective of promoting the sports industry in the country.


Meanwhile Datuk Peter Gilmour, event director for the Monsoon Cup sailing

tournament, said sports events should be evaluated from its tangible and

intangible benefits.


Gilmour said the tangible benefits could be measured by the spending of the

participants and spectators during the event or from the wider media coverage

while non-tangible benefits were things like vehicle branding, ticket branding

and marketing strategy.


"For instance, during the Monsoon Cup tournament which was held in Kuala

Terengganu for the past four years, the television package was distributed to

more than 500 million homes via live and delayed broadcasts," he said.


He said during the 2008 Monsoon Cup, the gross media value worth for local

viewers amounted to RM155,689,500 and the figure was expected to increase every

year.


The executive chairman of Carbon Worldwide, Keld Kristiansen revealed a

lucrative figure when the company handled the Malaysia A1 GP last year.


He said the company invested about US$5.4 million (RM18 million) to organise

the event.


"And what we got the 22 teams paying US$2.5 million (RM7 million) for

hotels, food and beverage (F&B), the local supporting teams spent about RM1

million, the international TV coverage was valued at US$10 million (RM35

million)," he said.


He said the figure excluded the broadcast to 150 countries that could reach

up to 700 million viewers.


"So it's a lucrative industry but still untapped by Malaysians who are

involved in the sports industry," he said.



-- BERNAMA