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'Over 40 000 spectators attended the annual International Rugby Sevens. 32 participating teams and over 15 000 people from overseas came specially to Hong Kong to attend this international competition.'
'This year's Marathon attracted 35 000 athletes from over 50 different countries to participate.'
'The first Sports Meet for Asian Commercial and Industrial Organisations was held in Hong Kong. More than 280 teams from over 30 Asian countries sent over 18 000 athletes to attend yesterday's opening ceremony.'
'The International Triathlon will be held today and tomorrow at the Sai Kung Country Park. A record number of participants have come from overseas to join the event.'
'The Tenth World Masters Games opened yesterday at the Hong Kong Stadium. Over 15 000 athletes, coaches and managers from more than 60 countries attended the opening ceremony.'
'Last one '3 600 out of the 8 000-odd swimmers came from overseas to attend the Long Distance Marathon Swim on 1st October.'
The above excerpts are not fantasy stories. They are real events and Hong Kong did host such events. Have we ever wondered why large scale international sports activities such as the Olympics, the Asian Games, the World Cup or other championships attracted cities and countries to apply for hosting them? The reasons are simple, fame and fortune. Through staging such activities, places attract participants, managers, coaches, the media and foreign visitors. At the same time, the activities attract foreign funds thrown in as sponsorship. The hosting cities add to their fame through media coverage of the events so that the tourist industry stands to benefit. The hosts kill many birds in one stone. The Australian success in promoting the Masters Games is a very good and vivid example.
We in Hong Kong have world class sports facilities. In addition, we possess other favourable conditions such as our hotel line-up, the qualities of our hotel rooms as compared to other cities, our traffic and transportation network, the central location of our hotels from sports venues with a trip taking no more than ten-odd minutes. This is more to our favour than rooms in other cities.
Our communication network is advanced, quick, convenient and much cheaper than that of other places. In terms of consumption and shopping, we may not offer cheap and good items, but we offer great varieties. Our market has the advantage of being centralised. It should help us sustain our attraction. Another thing is that we are geographically at a central location. With the exception of South American cities, any large metropolis in the world is linked to Hong Kong by direct flights of no more than 12 to 13 hours. This is an important point and a major consideration when tourists and sports teams decide whether or not to come here.
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