Perspective: Sustainability and sports

Perspective: Sustainability and sports

Moshe Grant

Co-Founder & COO – Elite Turf USA Every year in the United States alone, between 700 to 1,000 soccer fields are being built. Every field is about 80,000 square feet and uses traditional, non-recyclable synthetic turf. Eight to 10 years later, those fields are resurfaced. The vast majority of the used turf ends up being buried in landfills all over the nation, which is a huge sustainability concern.

After much time and resources spent thinking about an outside-the-box product, we came up with a system that is 100 percent recyclable and uses absolutely zero rubber in it. We use woven turf that does not have urethan in its backing, which is completely recyclable at the end of its life span and allows us to eliminate the recyclability concern.

$162 million in 2019. In 2020, as in previous years, a large contingent of New Jersey’s visitors — about 20% — came to Atlantic County, followed by Cape May County with just under 10%. In Atlantic City’s casino hotels, the occupancy rate for the three months ended March 2021 was 52.4%, which is 15.7 percentage points lower than the comparable period last year but also higher than the national hotel average.

There is some optimism across the hotel industry based around major events scheduled for 2021. The Fourth of July weekend got the ball rolling and prices are already shooting up for holiday rentals. A hotel room near the beach in Cape May last June was charged at around $300 per night, while this year rates were at

The state’s total visitation numbers are expected to recover to prepandemic levels by 2023

$500 per night with most hotels fully occupied. The average U.S. hotel room rate rose to $110.34 in April, up 51% on the year but still below pre-pandemic levels, according to STR.

Looking ahead Moving forward, NJTT expects an improvement in travel and tourism. As it is, the only thing standing in the way of growth in the tourism industry is the ability to recruit personnel. “Here are some statistics: We have always paid higher than minimum wage, it’s part of our culture and ethos, yet our labor costs are up 60% over the last 18 months, and that is not transitory inflation, it is permanent. When the labor pool grows, and we stop paying people to stay home, then we’re going to have more people in the labor pool. Are we going to drop our wages? No, we’re not,” said Eustace Mita, CEO of ICONA Resorts.

The state’s 2021 visitation numbers are predicted to rise 18% on 2020 figures, projecting 100 million visitors and a 23% increase in spending to $36 million. This will be supported by continued restrictions on international travel and U.S. holidaymakers instead choosing domestic locations for breaks throughout the year. By 2023, visitation is predicted to recover to prepandemic levels and the state is expected to surpass the 120-million-visitor mark by 2024.

“We’re bullish for a number of reasons,” added Mita. “We think the pandemic affected a lot of people’s thinking. People who were inclined to put off a vacation will no longer be of that mind. People who were going to stay one night are staying two, those who were going to stay two are staying three. People want to spend time together in a way they hadn’t before.”

Professional

Services:

In a post-pandemic world, professional services firms have become the agents of rebound and recovery, whether it is helping with short-term cash-flow generation plans and cost-cutting measures or drafting long-term operational redesigns for their clients.