World Class Sports Academy for Mossel BayMossel Bay will soon have a world class sports academy - one that will attract top teams and individual athletes from around the world.“Belgian developer Bart Impens has been granted approval by the Town Council of Mossel Bay to build the first phase of the facility at his Nautilus Bay development, 15 km west of Mossel Bay,” said the town’s 2010 Coordinator, Louis Harris.“The first phase of the residential development - comprising 78 erven - has been completed and fifteen houses have already been built. Bart is now awaiting final approval from the Provincial Government for the next phase - which he hopes to receive within the next month.” Mr. Harris said that the development was especially welcome as it will create job opportunities during construction and - more importantly - well into the future. “It’s also important because it represents a major injection of capital into the town’s economy at a critical time when the building industry has seen a sharp decline as a result of the recession.” Mr. Harris said the Sports Academy, which will replace a disused sand quarry at Nautilus Bay, will initially include a football pitch built to FIFA standards, players’ dressing rooms, physiotherapy rooms, a gym, and a players’ lounge. An Olympic-sized swimming pool, competition-standard tennis courts and a golf course will follow in a second phase.“Bart has shown total commitment to Mossel Bay’s dream of becoming a Team Base Camp for the 2010 World Cup: in the multi-million first phase of this project he’s gone beyond FIFA’s requirements wherever he can.“He’s also established a trust which will be funded by Nautilus Bay and which will be used, amongst other things, for the development of Mossel Bay’s young sporting talent - and especially talent coming out of previously disadvantaged communities.“Nautilus Bay’s sports academy is a project that’ll go way beyond 2010, because Mossel Bay is serious about the legacy of the World Cup,” said Mr. Harris. “It’s grown out of talks we’ve held with the sports ministries in Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay and with various prominent soccer clubs in South America, and it’s part of a broader development strategy we’re creating for the town.“We’re working on building long-term relationships with the MERCOSUR (or Southern Common Market) Countries - Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, and Brazil - and the 200 million people who live there.“We believe that South-South cooperation is becoming increasingly important - especially now that the economic climate has seen a marked decrease in trade with, and tourism from, the Northern Hemisphere,” he said.“The development of young sportspeople from both South Africa and South America is seen as a vital part of the health and social security aspect of this work - and health and social security stand alongside trade, tourism and cultural and scientific dialogue as one of the four pillars of our strategy.”Mr. Harris said that sports tourism provided opportunities at many levels. “Events like 2010 are once-off affairs, and of course the World Cup is important to us both because of the immediate business it’ll bring and because of the media exposure it will generate.“But we want to ensure that we’ll still be attracting sports tourists in the years after the event - and the Nautilus Bay Sports Academy will allow us to do this,” he said.“The relative isolation of the facility will make it easy for teams to practice in secret; Mossel Bay’s excellent weather - with more than 300 days of sunshine a year - makes it a safe bet when it comes to the number of viable practice days that teams can expect during training camps; and the town’s position as a tourism and media hub ensure both the availability of quality accommodation and quick and easy access to the major centres.”Mr. Harris said that one of the constraints to Mossel Bay’s economic growth had always been the seasonality of the traditional tourism trade - which has, up to now, relied almost solely on domestic and foreign holidaymakers.“Although it only really pays off during about 5 months of the year, tourism is one of the biggest contributors to the town’s economy. But sports tourism can help to smooth the curve - because teams can be expected to hold their training camps out of season.“But if we want to attract top teams, we need top-class facilities - which is why Nautilus Bay is so important to us: it will help to ensure the sustainability of Mossel Bay’s economy,” he said.
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