The concept of sports tourism is an emerging global economic enterprise driven by affluence and place identities defined by adventurism and vacation economics.
The affluent western hemisphere has commercialized human leisure activities through tourism and its related appropriation of the atmospherics of differentiated global scenic geographical and cultural features.
Technological advancements have effectively expanded the opportunities for tourism through communication and travel economics.
The global village created through internet connectivity has expanded the experiences of tourism and attraction of real-time exchange of information and enjoyment of unique place attributes.
Some travel communities’ in the world make destination choices and decisions based on critical considerations which include; income level and availability, place characteristics, and attractiveness, repeat visits, security concerns, place ratings, accommodation, convenience in travel, and today sporting events or individual recreational sports availability in the destinations among others.
Countries such as Kenya and South Africa have become the destinations of choice within Africa. Most European and American tourists chose Kenya and South Africa because of their diversity of flora and fauna.
While Kenya is a preferred destination because of the country’s Big Five, South Africa is giving Kenya a run for its money due to the latter more developed economy, particularly on infrastructure.
Both destinations are a huge sports market in Africa. They are both giants in rugby and cricket. The unique nature of these sports are historically English sports and most British tourists who visit Kenya engage in recreational rugby and cricket pastimes.
The dominance of athletics is also a common feature of the two countries although different distances tend to mark the distinction between the two in international competitions.
The promising Kenyan tourism circuit outside the big five attractions is the North Rift. The counties of North Rift are endowed differently with a huge comparative advantage exemplified by the colossal amount of athletic talent and opportunities.
From Nandi County in the West of Eldoret, the region’s economic and cultural epicenter, to Baringo in the East, lies a fertile tourist opportunity untapped.
The picturesque Elgeyo Marakwet county [the home of champions] has a sports tourism superstructure sufficient to generate billions of shillings annually with critical infrastructural investments on sports tourism ventures.
The partnerships between the public and private sectors are necessary for this sector to realize the true potentials. Research on the creation of sports tourism products is long overdue.
The departments of sports and tourism with clear blueprints for revamping and development of these sectors to generate the social capitals.
The habitus of Elgeyo Marakwet in sports tourism from an investment and policy perspective should focus on the creation of economic capital, cultural capital and symbolic capital.
While athletics [by extension, all sports] is the premier income generating sports activity, its development has been left on the hands of private individuals and foreign-dominated market system with little or no control in the region and country to maximize the economic returns.
The other wing of the North Rift tourism circuit is wildlife endowment and geographic attractions ranging from the Rimoi National Park, Suam Game Reserve, and further north to Lake Turkana.
Baringo County is the region attraction center with the international Flamingo habitat of L. Bogoria. The lake is home to the Geysers and hot springs. The contribution of the lakes Baringo and Bogoria to the economy of Baringo County is immense.
However, for these tourists to reach these hubs, there are transit crossing and enjoyment of adjustment counties. Are there shared economic gains among the counties? No evidence on the affirmative.
The Tourist Regulatory Authority, North Rift region has fundamentally mapped the region’s opportunities is a leap step.
The engagement of business community for the purposes of partnerships will create the needed impetus for expansion, particularly in opening up sports tourism in the region and globalize the benefits of sports to attract the needed investors in the sports tourism sectors.
Sport tourism fairs and exhibitions will be an added advantage to elevate the fortunes of sports and tourism beyond the climes of politics. Good policies informed by research is the roadmap to change the economics of current windfalls of sports finance and revenue.
Therefore, the political desire to appropriate sports for tourism development is something that the Kenya Tourist Board should invest and have the right models and human resource base to enhance the true economic value of the tourism economics in North Rift in particular and Kenya in general.