Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA) – OTTAWA, ON: Holding 46 major sport events in the past year has kept Canada in the top six listing of sport hosting nations. The Global Sports Index (GSI) Nations Index 2018 was announced this week at SportAccord in Bangkok, Thailand by Sportcal, the UK-based firm which compiles the listing. For the sixth consecutive year Canada was recognized as one of the leading sport hosting nations in the world.

With an in-depth analysis of major multi-sport games and world championships, the GSI Nations Index identified the USA as the leading nation for the third straight year. The United Kingdom maintained its second place ranking, with China, Russia, Japan and Canada shifting positions slightly. Recognized as one of the leading sport hosting nations in the world, Canada placed second from 2013 – 2015, was ranked third in 2016, fifth in 2017 and sixth in 2018.

“The National Sport Organizations and destinations who work together to bid for and host major events, combined with the alignment of our federal, provincial and municipal hosting programs, deserve the credit for our continued respect around the world as a hosting nation,” said Rick Traer, CEO, Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance. “One of the major factors to our consistency in ranking, is our record of hosting events every year. We held 46 events that qualified for consideration in 2017, with only the USA holding more at 48. Despite the smallest population base of the top six countries, we have a well-deserved hosting reputation and look forward to continuing to attract major events to Canada.”

Canada also offers many attractive attributes when sport events are being awarded. At SportAccord the Team Canada delegation led by CSTA, in partnership with Destination Canada and CBC Sports, and destination partners from Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Ottawa, Durham Region, Montréal and Québec City positioned Canada as a leading location to host international sport events. “We are known for the quality of the organization of events in Canada, with the strongest volunteer base of any country, and the secure, welcoming atmosphere that we provide. It gives us a solid base to continue attracting major events, and contributing significant economic impact of our tourism industry,” added Traer.

The Global Sports Index (GSI) Nations Index extends over a 14-year period covering seven years in the past and projecting seven years in the future (2012-2025).  The Index analysed 683 events across 155 categories and 81 sports, including summer and winter Olympic sports and Olympic ‘recognised’ sports. Bids for events that have been awarded up until April 2, 2018 have been included. In all 88 nations and 587 cities have hosted or are scheduled to host events during the 14-year period. A time weighting is applied, so that events in the current year are awarded 100 per cent of the rating value, while events in previous or future years are awarded less.

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Contact:
Rick Traer, CEO, Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance
(613) 688-5843

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.