Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance – (Ottawa, Ont.) The Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA) has published the first update to its 2016 report on the Federal Hosting Program. Originally compiled in April of 2016, the report traces the impact of the Federal Policy for Hosting International Sport Events which was implemented in 2008.

The report, prepared for CSTA members, outlines the sports and provinces that have successfully bid for and hosted events beginning in 2008 and detailed by each year. Updated to March 2018, the data shows that 718 international single sport events qualified for and received funding totalling $89,659,064 (Source: Canadian Heritage). The events range from world championships to recurring world cup style events held annually.  The report does not include multi-sport events such as Olympic, Pan/Parapan American Games, Canada Games, NAIG or Arctic Winter Games.

“Sport tourism has continued be the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry in Canada,” said Rick Traer, CEO of the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance.  “The financial support provided by the Federal Government, through the Hosting Program, is a key component to Canada’s established reputation as a world leader in both bidding for and hosting international events. As well, in many cases it has contributed to upgraded or new facilities that have provided not only excellent training facilities for our athletes and given them home field advantage by holding international events in our own country.”

Traer also added that “The program is one of the prime reasons that Canada has consistently ranked in the top six of hosting nations, and we were listed as #2 in the world for number of events held in the most recent Sportcal findings.” (Sportcal is the UK-based firm that annually compiles international sport hosting data.)

The report outlines which sports have received funding, as well as the number of events funded. A total of 46 different sports have been supported. With the hosting of two major events in the time frame, Soccer Canada received the highest $ amount of funding, while cycling and athletics have received funding for hosting the most # of events in their sports.

The 2018 report, in two files, can be found in the Members Only section of the CSTA website.  Highlights include:

• breakdown by province of events hosted and contribution amounts;
• the names of the events by sport and the corresponding contributions;
• types of events funded from Level 1 (Pinnacle /World Championship) to Level 4 (International event).

CSTA members can use the information to gauge the history of federal funding contribution for events previously held in Canada and to build local or regional sport event bidding and hosting strategies. It also illustrates which National Sport Organizations are consistently hosting international events in Canada and who regularly seek host community partners.

Items to note about the report:

• Events must first have been included in the NSO hosting plan submitted annually to Sport Canada;
• The hosting data contained in the report is focused on International Single Sport Events;
• Multi-sport Games, National single sport competitions and championships and the Canada Games were not included in the report;
• International Single Sport Events from an NSO that is not recognised by Sport Canada were not included.

The CSTA will continue to update the information on a regular basis.

The full reports are found on the Members Only section of the CSTA website. If you have misplaced your access information, please contact Steven Trainor (strainor@canadiansporttourism.com) for your login details.

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Information:

Rick Traer, CEO, Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance

(613) 688-5843

rtraer@canadiansporttourism.com

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About the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA)

The Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance is a non-governmental, member-based, capacity building organization that promotes sport tourism as a grassroots economic development initiative at the community level. The CSTA services over 500 members across Canada, including 130 municipalities, 300 national and provincial sport, multi-sport and major games organizations and a variety of other sport and tourism industry partners. Sport tourism is the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry in Canada with over $6.5 billion in annual spending by domestic and international visitors.