National sports event in Quispamsis draws attention to sport tourism

The Telus Cup got underway Monday with teams from North York, Ont. and Saskatoon, Sask. doing battle.

In the past, Pittsburgh Penguins star Sydney Crosby and Saint John’s hometown hero Randy Jones have featured in the tournament which features the best midget hockey teams in Canada.

This year’s six-team tournament also features the host and Atlantic Champions, the Saint John Vitos as well as Atlantic Rep Dartmouth.

Those who are in Quispamsis, N.B. taking part in the tournament are there mainly for the game of hockey, but there is a bigger picture at play — sports tourism which can mean big money to communities.

Aaron Kennedy, the local chairman, says to begin with the event involves the entire community.

“We’ve got 150 volunteers,” Kennedy said.

“Someone did the math and its about 1,300 volunteer hours this week alone which doesn’t include the amount of time the host committee has been working behind the scenes really heavily for the last six or eight months or so.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "Someone did the math and its about 1,300 volunteer hours this week alone which doesn't include the amount of time the host committee has been working behind the scenes really heavily for the last six or eight months or so."

While the action is taking place in the suburbs, the city of Saint John is also receiving a major boost.

“We see business in hotels and restaurants, gas stations, convenience stores and retail shopping so there’s this ripple effect,” Victoria Clarke of Discover Saint John said.

Sports tourism has a growing significance on the business landscape. Clarke says her organization has hired someone to specifically address that issue.

“We need people to understand how to maintain relationships with the national bodies and provincial bodies that host these different sports and then just understanding the economics of the impact it has on the city,” she said.

It’s not known yet how this event will specifically impact the community monetarily but the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance will be crunching those numbers.

“They look at the number of people coming into your community, the number of days that they’re here and then they factor in hotels and food and gas and the entertainment expenses that they spend and you know apparel and that sort of thing.”