Sports tourism events

Many Filipinos could not help but shed a tear as we watched the funeral of former President Corazon ‘Cory’ Aquino on TV and on the streets of Manila.

She will surely be missed and I hope that we Filipinos would cherish the lessons that she had taught us and live them so that we will attain our dream of a better nation.

Thank you Tita Cory and goodbye!

* * *

Many claim to be promoting sports tourism, but have a very little understanding of the basics.

Some think of it mainly as luring visitors, foreigners, to come here and do sports activities and of course spend their money.

While this is a good view of what the whole thing is, many forget that this can be done on a smaller scale even in areas that may not have the coral reefs for diving, rivers and trails for trekking, golf courses, and more.

Last Monday, the 5th Gov. Gwendolyn Garcia Unity Volleyball (GUV) Cup at Capitol along with the Gov. Cup Airsoft and Kabayo Festival. These events are examples of sports tourism in the local level allowing the Cebuanos to visit neighboring towns and cities and helping spur the economy of the host local government units.

In the GUV Cup for example, the cluster matches are held in various towns on a weekend bringing together teams from the neighboring areas. Through this, the players of visiting teams can sample what the host town has to offer in terms of food and other stuff and would also allow them to see other things that they might have missed if they just passed the place during travel.

Paolo Garcia, the governor’s son, who is actively involved in the air soft event, told the participants of the Tourism Congress a couple of months ago, about how businesses in the host towns would suddenly experience a boom.

He told us a story about one vendor of barbecue, who asked them to please tell the other teams not to buy anymore since she could not cope with the demand.

These stories tell us about what sports tourism can do to help the various areas around our province.

It doesn’t always mean bringing in the foreigners and spending much on improvements in terms of hotel or resort accommodations, which limits the ability of many places.

Sports tourism can start with bringing your neighbors to your town, which the events like the GUV Cup and the Gov. Cup Airsoft bring.

Gov. Garcia said that the organizers of the Kabayo Festival are also looking at bringing the event to other places and this will surely be something that the people of the towns can look forward to.

We can all do our share for sports tourism in our own little way.

* * *

MILESTONES: Before everyone else, I would like to greet my lifetime partner and the mother of my children, Evelyn Gabuya Reyes-Quiñones, a very happy birthday. Also, 14 years ago yesterday, we exchanged vows to be beside each other for better or for worse and we’ve succeeded in doing so and hope to continue till death do us part.

Birthday greetings also go to Marco Anzani of Anzani at Nivel Hills, who is also celebrating today as well as my former volleyball teammate Robert Francis Hipolito and Red Selma, son of my long-time buddy Minglanilla town Councilor Robert John ‘Jojo’ Selma.

Advance greetings to GMA’s Randy Gorion and to my mistah Cdr. Jun Pulido, who are turning a year older tomorrow.

More power to all of you! -  THE FREEMAN