AIMS Games school sporting tournament hangs in the balance
The biggest intermediate school sports tournament in the southern hemisphere could be the next victim of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Tauranga’s annual AIMS Games, slated for September 5-11, faces the prospect of cancellation, and with it, a huge financial hit to the region.
In its 16 years, the event has gone from a small festival of sport to a hugely popular week on the year 7 and 8 calendar. Last year there was upwards of 11,500 competitors from more than 365 schools around New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific, across 23 different sports.
The 2019 tournament, which was livestreamed on Stuff, pumped a whopping $6.5 million into Bay of Plenty’s economy, had 23,775 unique attendees for the week, and contributed 74,787 visitor nights to the region.
Registrations for this year’s event were to close on June 10, but organisers want to give as much certainty as possible, so the AIMS Games Trust will meet on Tuesday to make a decision on its fate.
Tournament director Vicki Semple said the wellbeing of athletes, supporters, staff and contractors were at the forefront of their decisions, and in an email to schools last week, outlined the several factors that were being weighed up.
They included level 2 regional travel restrictions on attending events, large groups having to stay in shared accommodation, air travel availability and cost, crowd sizes watching the sports, difficulties with venue preparation, annual leave of volunteers potentially being used up during lockdown, and Covid-19 disruption to school curriculums potentially seeing a focus on academic priorities instead.
It’s the second straight year a health drama has placed uncertainty around the tournament, with the 2019 event coming in the midst of the measles outbreak.
A cancellation would follow the likes of high school rugby, football and netball, which last week pulled the pin on events for later in the year.
But the economic impact of AIMS not going ahead would be significant.
Hospitality New Zealand accommodation sector Bay of Plenty chairman Tony Bullot, who also owns 850 Cameron Motel, said he would very surprised if the event got given the all-clear, for what he believed was the biggest week of the year for Tauranga accommodation.
Without the tournament it ‘‘would be a normal week, whatever normal is,’’ Bullot said in relation to the current murky Covid-19 environment.
‘‘Right now, accommodation providers have written off the AIMS Games,’’ he said.
‘‘If it happens, great, if there’s some smaller events around which there might be, great. But it’s not on the radar.
‘‘What people are worrying about is getting their business back on track and doing the best they can.’’
The impacts go further than just accommodation, of course, with local retailers also getting a spike in trading.
Last year, Papamoa Pak n Save store manager Glenn Macdonald increased his weekly bananas and potatoes order by a tonne each, and also stocked up on poultry, with sales having jumped the year before by 3.5 tonnes during AIMS week.
Tourism Bay of Plenty chief executive Kristin Dunne described the tournament as ‘‘hugely important to our community and tourism industry’’.
‘‘With the event held in September, the Games bring a full week of visitor spend during what would otherwise be a shoulder season month for tourism in the Coastal Bay of Plenty,’’ she said in a statement to Stuff.
‘‘Many of the teams, their coaches and supporting families get out and explore the region during their free time here. The event has significant flow-on effects to accommodation, hospitality, retail and tourism activities.
‘‘Tauranga is a proud host to the AIMS Games and we hope that the city can safely host the event later this year.’’