The team lead of a destination management outfit, the owner of the Ufitfly brand, Evangelist Ajibola Ogunkeyede has advised the federal government to take advantage of sports tourism to boost the economy while hosting the WBF Super featherweight champion, Ridwan Scorpion Oyekola in his office yesterday.
The popular tour broker said boxing is now a money spinning venture and a key component of sports tourism which brings some significant benefits to the destinations that host events, economic boosts, both direct and indirect, are chief among these advantages, saying our government is yet to take full advantage of this.
Ogunkeyede added that the direct spending by sports tourists at host facilities, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment venues stimulates the local economy, and Jobs are created, and tax revenue is earned.
He however endorsed the boxer who will be facing a boxer from Ghana, Noi Mensah in a buildup bout ahead of his WBF title defense this weekend as one of the faces of Ufitfly brand.
Ogunkeyede however, called on the government, especially in Oyo that had rebuild the Lekan Salami Sports Complex into an international standard to complement the good deed by ensuring a synergy between sports and tourism which fall under five categories: sports participation, sports training, sporting events, tourism with sports content, and luxury sports travel.
“We have done a lot under the CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) policy of our firm to support sports, and as a stakeholder and tourism practitioner, I can confidently recommend duo as a good source of revenue generation if properly synergized”.
He added that if the youths of the nation are properly managed through active engagement in sports and a good collaboration is fashioned out between sports and tourism, the country will maximally generate great revenues that will surpass what is derivable from oil.
