A boxer from New Brunswick is hoping to boost the local economy by bringing world class boxing events to the Fredericton.
Nackawic, N.B. native Brandon Brewer will host his third major sporting event this weekend, in hopes of promoting sport tourism.
Brewer said his goal was to bring live entertainment to the province. He hosted events in May and October 2016 and said each event brought out approximately 3,500 people.
“We’re turning the Aitken Centre into the MGM Grand and we’re turning Fredericton into Las Vegas, so it’s a good thing for the city,” Brewer said.
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He said that includes business owners, with people from rural parts of the province coming into Fredericton for the event.
City of Fredericton sport tourism coordinator Bobby Despres said events like this are fantastic to have in Fredericton.
He said the first two events went well and said agreeing to let Brewer host a third event was a “no-brainer.”
“It’s nice to see events like this happen in the City of Fredericton because it provides opportunities for people to get out, enjoy the atmosphere, enjoy sport and to see something different that they haven’t seen regularly beyond the mainstream sports that we have in Fredericton,” Despres said.
He said events like Brewer’s create jobs and boosts the local economy during event set-up and keeps hotels and restaurants busy.
“These events bring people into the city, they put ‘heads in beds’,” Despres said. “Once again you’re looking at employment for the hospitality industry, so with that they all have to eat when they come to town, so they go to restaurants, they have a good time, they go out in the evening. So every event that we’ve seen with Brandon so far, for L-Jack promotions, is that it fills restaurants, it gets people out in the city.”
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He said seeing 3, 500 out to each event is a “good outcome” for a community like Fredericton which has roughly 58,000 people.
“People are coming in from the local communities, there’s international fighters that are here, and with that they come with their own trainers and people with them and support staff,” Despres explained. “So there are a lot of people coming into the city not just for one night, but three, to four to five days, and that’s what it’s all about when it comes to sport tourism.”
Despres said the hope is that when people leave Fredericton after the match that they remember how nice the people were, how beautiful the city was and they book a trip back for a vacation.
“It’s events like this that allow us to showcase Fredericton, not just locally but also on a national and international scale that makes it all the worthwhile for us,” Despres said.