'Jamaica has potential to become leading sporting destination'

André Lowe, Senior Staff Reporter

Timothy Schneider, the man behind the annual mega-tradeshow the TEAMS Conference and Expo, believes that Jamaica has the potential to become one of the world's leading sporting destinations

Besides his role with organising the TEAMS Conference and Expo - the world's largest gathering of sports event organisers, Schneider is also president and CEO of Los Angeles-based Schneider Publishing Company, which publishes two magazines serving group travel markets, SportsTravel and Association News.

Schneider, who is also looking into the possibility of hosting his conference, which attracts over 1300 attendees and 300 exhibitors from all over the world, at the Montego Bay Conference Centre, encouraged stakeholders to use the island's exotic features to attract organisers of international sport-related events

Sport tourism is big business, with estimates of its value at US$600 billion in 2008, or approximately 10 per cent of the international tourism market, 12 million trips a year and an expected growth of six per cent per year.

"I think Jamaica has so much to offer for someone who organises a major sporting event and so my suggestion is that Jamaica look at making itself available as a host country for all sort of different events that aren't necessarily based here," said Schneider during an interview with The Gleaner after his recent presentation at the Business of Sport conference at The Jamaica Pegasus.

"It's a tremendous market," Schneider continued. "It's a competitive market now but because of the natural features of this island, it's just a perfect location for a variety of events and I think that can really help to build the economic impact that's realised from hosting international events."

Natural resources

The sports-travel mogul underlined the importance of using the island's natural resources and trademark offering of 'Sun, Sand and Sea' to attract the right events.

"That's the island's real calling card and is already established in the marketplace, so leveraging that is the natural way to go," Schneider said. "So go with the sun, sand and sea concept and look at events whether that is volleyball events or other beach events now being held in a number of different sports. Those kind of events that can attract people from different countries to Jamaica will have a huge impact for the island."

Concerning the possibility of hosting his conference in Jamaica, Schneider was a bit concerned with the size of Montego Bay Conference Centre (MBCC), which has been suggested by Tourism Minister Edmund Bartlett as a possible venue. The MBCC has 50,000 square feet of exhibition space, over 20,000 square feet of banquet facilities and more that 11,000 square feet of meeting space; a bit on the small side for the TEAMS Conference and Expo.

"We have a whole process that we go through in determining where our conference will be held. Our tradeshow takes about 100,000 square feet, so I will be looking at the Convention Centre in Montego Bay. From my understanding, it's probably not large enough to host the Teams Conference as it is now, but I understand that they are maybe looking at building an addition," said Schneider. "In any event, I will also be looking at it from the standpoint of maybe there is some other event that we can organise that can be held there."