The Center for Sustainable Management of Tourism, Sport & Events (CESMATSE) at EUC announces its partnership with the Global Sports Impact Project
Posted: July 24, 2019
The Centre for Sustainable Management of Tourism Sport and Events (CESMATSE) at the European University in Cyprus being committed to advancement of knowledge and its application to the industry both on international and local levels, is pleased to announce its partnership with the Global Sports Impact (GSI) project. CESMATSE will be providing support to the GSI project as one of its academic partnersalong with the Institute of Sport, Exercise and Active Living (ISEAL) at Victoria University in Australia and the Institute of Sport Economics and Sport Management at the German Sport University in Cologne. The GSI project has been initiated by organizations that recognize the need and importance of establishing an industry-recognized method of analyzing the impact of major sporting events. The partnership consisting of Singapore Sports Council, Sportcal and UK Sport aims to create a standard methodology for measuring the impact of sports events, thereby enabling their comparison across a standard set of indicators.
But what is the importance of the GSI project? Although the hosting of sport events can derive substantial benefits and impacts for nations and cities, a common problem for sport managers and policy-makers is to estimate the size of the sports events industry and analyze its impact on the global economy and on the cities and nations that host these events. The difficulties stem from the fact that there is currently no internationally recognized method of analyzing the benefits of hosting major sporting events. Every country and consultancy uses its own different methodology and there is no accepted international standard that allows the comparison of major sporting events. Many academics have undertaken research projects to study the impact of major sports events and to consider the effectiveness of these different methodologies. They all agree that there is very little commonality in the methods used by the different group of experts and that there is a need to create a standard methodology.
In response, the GSI project will produce the GSI Events Index, which will be created from data on a series of indices analyzing a range of economic, financial, sporting, media, social and environmental impacts and will in turn be used to identify the key indices that can be used to measure the impact that an event has on a host city, region and nation. This index will compare major events across a range of sports, including ‘mega events’ such as the Olympic Games and the FIFA World Cup through to major world and continental championships.
The participation of CESMATSE in this project hopes to stimulate interest in Cyprus of the value that sport holds as a strategic asset when it is leveraged to attain and optimize a range of outcomes. Given the island’s extensive tourism development (which however is hindered by the current economic crisis), the hosting of sport events represents an opportunity for further enriching its tourism product, while also promoting the social and environmental dimensions of sport. The ability to compare and evaluate the impacts of major sport events worldwide enabled by the GSI project will provide a tool for event and destination managers as well as policy-makers in Cyprus to bid for hosting suitable sport events that fit with the goals of the island’s sustainable development.
More information on the GSIproject can be found at: