Sport Tourism

Letter to Phuket Officials (Tourism, Sport, etc.)

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I am pleased to advise that the fourth (4th) Phuket International Soccer 7s will be held in Phuket island on the 25-26 November this year (Open & Masters categories), but as we have had a great deal of interest from teams we could hold another tournament (Open category only) on 18-19 November.

This annual tournament has been established to allow people to combine their love of sport with a holiday and some of its aims are to:

* Foster International sporting relationships

* Provide an opportunity for participants to experience international competition in the spirit of international friendship

* Promote Phuket as a sports tourism destination

We will have in excess of 600 participants come to Phuket for the tournament this year. In the past 3 years we estimate that in excess of 20 million baht has been injected into the local economy.

The Phuket tournament in its short time has become the biggest tournament of its kind in South East Asia. It receives excellent media exposure with TVs (Nokia Football Crasy from ESPN Star TV, Andaman TV News, The Nation TV, Pattaya People TV, Thai Channel TV5, UBC True); Newspapers (Bangkok Post, The Nation, Andaman Post, Pattaya Mail, Pattaya People Weekly, Phuket Gazette, Kick Off, Super Pull, Sportmen, Thansatakij...); Magazine publications (Asia & Away, Metro, Shakers & Movers, Football Asia, Thai Football, Big Chili, Sa-Bai Thailand, SportMag, Utamed Travel...); Radios (Virgin Radio HitZ, Virgin Radio Smooth, MCOT Metropolis...); & numerous articles on Internet websites.

Unfortunately, the future of this International Sport Event is in serious jeopardy as each year we have a huge problem in securing a playing field to hold our tournament. Each year we are forced to conduct the tournament at a different location. Last year it was held at the British International School. Unfortunately this year they are repairing their fields and they will not be available at the time of our tournament.

The economic benefit of this tournament to Phuket is huge but this will all be lost if we cannot secure a decent, safe playing field. Each year we are denied the opportunity to use Surakul stadium, and Karon Stadium and Sanam Chai have either no grass or a dangerous playing surface.

There is an International Cricket Tournament and an International Rugby Tournament that are also held in Phuket annually. They are faced with the same concerns.

We feel that we do a great deal to promote Phuket island, not only as a holiday destination but also as an ideal location to conduct sporting events. That effort has injected a considerable sum into the Phuket economy and more importantly, has people returning to their country promoting Phuket as a result of their wonderful experience.

We hope that you feel that these international events are important to Thailand and that you value the efforts that are being made to attract tourists to Phuket. Your support is essential in order to ensure that this event will remain in Phuket and that we can feel comfortable in establishing future events for Phuket.

Yours sincerely,

Alain & Tim

Tournament Organisers

* Official tournament website: www.thai7s.com

* More than 3,000 pictures from past tournaments: www.photos.thai7s.com

* Press and Media reports: www.media.thai7s.com