Let’s explore beach volleyball as sports tourism venture
The international volleyball federation (FIVB) continues to improve the experience of volleyball fans across the globe with increased innovation in its competitions.
Since FIVB established Volleyball World under the leadership of Ary Graca from Brazil, fan engagement has kept getting better. Volleyball World is a new partnership between the FIVB and British private equity and investment advisory firm CVC Capital Partners aimed at driving growth, innovation, and investment in volleyball around the globe.
Volleyball World’s flagship event, the Volleyball Nations League (VNL), was launched in 2018 and involves the top 16 nations in the world. It has grown over the years.
In 2019, FIVB announced that the VNL (both men’s and women’s events) had attracted a cumulative global audience of more than 1.5 billion. This number was an increase of 200 million from the 2018 VNL.
With a $1 million (Sh100 million) purse up for grabs, players look forward to the VNL with every edition getting better. Last year’s edition held at the height of Covid-19 pandemic achieved 744 total broadcast hours.
The aggregated digital watch time was 4.8 million hours while aggregated engagements across the competition were 73,533,032 with a total digital reach of 512,026,143.
Having successfully run three editions of the VNL, Volleyball World have now turned their focus from indoor volleyball to beach volleyball.
Their latest innovation, the Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour, which served off last week in Mexico replaces the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour.
The new competition combines beach volleyball with an entertainment platform that brings together music, food and the beach lifestyle out of which the sport was grown.
The Volleyball World Beach Pro Tour travels across the globe, showcasing the best of beach volleyball at vibrant events in stunning locations and iconic cities.
It is also the annual international beach volleyball circuit featuring the best-ranked athletes in the world, with competition to be held at three levels: Elite 16, Challenge and Futures. The competition culminates with The Finals each year.
The Elite16 competition is the highest level of the Beach Pro Tour with the top 16 teams per gender of the world battling to maintain their position within this group.
The Challenge level tournament is a feeder to the Elite16 level events including 24 teams, with players fighting to gain ranking points. Futures level is a feeder to the Challenge-level events. Each season ends with The Finals - the ultimate event closing the year and featuring the best 10 qualified teams.
The first leg of the inaugural Beach Pro Tour saw players square it out on the sandy beaches of Tlaxcala, Mexico for the Challenge Level tournament from March 16-20 with the opening leg of the elite tournament set for March 23-27 in Rosarito, Mexico.
Other stops in the Tour are Brazil, Czech Republic, Qatar, Spain, Italy, Greece, Lithuania, Turkey, Thailand, Portugal, France, Germany, Switzerland and Latvia.
Africa will host two legs of the Challenge Tournament in Morocco (July 21-24) and Egypt (October 5-8).
With the highest level of TV production, a fan area worthy of a festival and a sport presentation like no other, Kenya should certainly consider bidding to host one leg of the Tour.
Given Kenya’s abundance of sandy beaches along the Indian Ocean, Kenya Volleyball Federation (KVF) should consider bidding to host at least a leg of the Beach Pro Tour.
Apart from state-of-the-art beach hotels and the general ambience of the Kenyan coast, Kenya has an edge over other countries with the rich culture of the Coastal communities and wildlife strengthening its case.
A leg in Mombasa, Malindi, Lamu or even Kilifi Counties would definitely enrich the experience of players and sell Kenya as a potential tourist destination for millions of fans who follow the Beach Pro Tour.
Rally drivers are on record saying that Kenya’s wildlife makes Kenya’s Safari Rally one to look out for in the World Rally Championship Series.
Last month, lady golfers who participated in the Magical Kenya Ladies Open were left in awe after viewing giraffes, zebras and oryx at the par-72 PGA Baobab Course at Vipingo Ridge in Kilifi County.
Fully broadcast events of the Beach Pro Tour will provide unique exposure for host counties, sponsors and event partners thus opening up Kenya’s Coast tourism sector to volleyball fans all over the world.
Under the able leadership of Ambassador Amina Mohamed, the Ministry of Sports has helped Kenya explore its enormous potential in sports tourism.
Amina has influenced government to significantly fund the Rally and Golf federations in hosting global events and I believe if similar support is given to KVF, Kenya could successfully host a leg or two of the Beach Pro Tour.
Meanwhile, the national beach volleyball team is in Ghana for the Commonwealth Games qualifiers set to serve off on Friday. The women’s team comprises Veronica Adhiambo, Naomi Too, Brackcides Agala and Gaudencia Makokha while the men’s team has Nicholas Lagat, Donald Mchete, Ibrahim Odour and James Mwaniki.
Just like in indoor volleyball, the women’s team has led the way in beach volleyball, clinching silver at 2019 African Games before making history by qualifying for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Interest in the game is growing locally if the attendance (28 pairs across both genders) of the third leg of the National Tour held in Mombasa last month, is anything to go by.
Qualifying for the Commonwealth Games will definitely enhance Kenya’s reputation as a beach volleyball powerhouse and probably influence FIVB to include Kenya in the global tour.
FYI, the Rosarito Elite 16 event that served off on Wednesday will feature a total of 56 teams from 20 different countries. Four Olympic champions, nine world champions, 16 Olympic medallists and 56 Olympians will be among the players competing on Mexico’s western coast.
And the prize money? A cool $300,000 (Sh30 million). Beach volleyball is the real deal! BY DAILY NATION

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