south London club
Lolz, I never knew you were a Spurs fan :-)
Seriously though, you have no idea on the power of advertising, at the end of the day people's perceptions are that of Rwanda being a war torn country that nobody wants to visit.
However their troubles are clearly over as far as war is concerned, and they are desperate to get people back over there to spend their tourist dollars.
Arsenal are a team that is heavily supported by the Afro-Caribbean community, hence the Rwandan tourist bureau felt that it would be a good investment. Add to that that Arsenal are an international team, supported the world over and that £30 mil could turn into £300 mil in a few years.
However like life, it's a gamble, which may or may not pay off.
How would you encourage people to go back there? Especially given the fact that nobody will give you free advertising.
ahaha Liverpool fan myself but I do like to cheer for spurs to annoy my brother, a die hard arsenal fan through and through.
I had a conversation with my brother where he was saying the same thing about advertising and It definitely could be a worthwhile investment but at the same time it could also flop and only bring a small amount of tourism, because If I saw a football club advertising the a holiday destination it would not interest me, however I guess Arsenal do have a lot of reach and influence.
I guess we have to wait and see how this turns out because if I gave a struggling friend money and rather than buying something they need they put a bet down on something I would be very annoyed but if the bet paid of I would have to give them props.
I hear ya, however fans tend to support their team in many ways, this is why club sponsorship is so sought after. I don't know Liverpool's sponsor, but I bet if you were in the market for their services, they would be at the forefront of your thinking.
I bet this site http://rwandatourism.com/ is due a lot of traffic in the coming months.
PS, UNICEF's profile went through the roof with their partnership with Barca, hopefully the same thing can happen to Rwanda.
PPS Unlucky for the Champs League final :-(
Cg