INDUSTRY INSIGHT
The Business of
SPORTS By Jason Siegel
Tournaments Give Us Head Start in Rebound of Tourism
T
ourism is coming back. You can see it in the crowds of happy faces all over Central Florida at the airports, theme parks, restaurants and beaches. All summer and throughout the fall, leisure travelers have been returning after being locked down by the COVID-19 pandemic. But sports tourism has been here all along. It was one of the first segments to rebound. And it will continue to be a key driver in Orlando’s tourism recovery.
“Sports tourism was an early bright spot when Orlando began to reopen in the summer of 2020 as we hosted the NBA bubble, the MLS is Back Tournament and youth events such as the AAU’s Junior National Volleyball Championship,” said Casandra Matej, president and CEO of Visit Orlando. Matej and other local leaders say all of this activity has given Orlando a one-year head start over other destinations that are also trying to recover from the financial effects of the pandemic. Think about it. A one-year head start. How did that happen? Early in the pandemic, during the 2020 season, eyes around the world were focused on Orlando as sports fans watched the National Basketball Association hold its games and choose a national champion inside what became
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known as “the NBA bubble” at Walt Disney World. Star players from around the league practiced on makeshift courts where parquet floors covered ballroom carpeting. In between, they isolated in their hotel rooms and ordered takeout from local restaurants. Major League Soccer (MLS) held its MLS is Back Tournament inside another bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney, bringing in players, coaches and staff from teams all over the country. Soon after, the Orange County Convention Center hosted more than 17,000 players and staff from the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) for what became the largest sporting event to take place since the beginning of quarantine. All of these activities put dollars into the local economy. They also promoted Central Florida as a travel destination at a time when tourism marketing dollars were hard to come by. To underline this, the 2021 edition of the same AAU Youth Volleyball event, hosted this summer, drew more than 130,000 participants and visitors. Here’s what Mark Tester, executive director of the Orange County Convention
JASON SIEGEL is president and CEO of the Greater Orlando Sports Commission.
