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You are here: Home > Educators > BTEC Travel and Tourism > Marketing in the Travel and Tourism Industry 2 - Activity |
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Marketing in the Travel and Tourism Industry 2 - ActivityHairdryers and Bootcamps: Athletes' Training FacilitiesTime was when the answer to a struggling football team’s problems involved the 'hairdryer routine', as typified by Sir Alex Ferguson. This would be swiftly followed by a training camp at a Royal Marine barracks. Training would usually involve 6 a.m. starts, ice baths and assault course work. Players would return home having had a taste of 'squaddie' life, taking care of their future performances in case more punishment might come their way. These days, many would have you believe that the closest top footballers might come to early morning ice baths would be spilling a champagne bucket over themselves as they exit an exclusive VIP-only nightclub. The rewards for winning are massive and, in their eagerness to succeed, sporting clubs are more likely to pamper their playing staff with the best facilities available. So rather than footballers' bootcamp, a mid-season squad break is much more likely to comprise a stay at a warm weather training resort. But increasingly, it seems, this is not the case at La Manga leisure resort in Spain. The 1,220-acre resort, which boasts two hotels, three championship golf courses, a tennis complex and professional football centre went into voluntary administration on 19th November 2008. 
Training facilities should enable athletes to perform at their best According to Travel Weekly, travel agents can safely book customers into the resort for the next year, despite its financial problems. The resort is believed to be €97m in debt, although its assets are believed to be worth in excess of that figure. The problems arose due to the credit crunch, when La Manga's owner, Med Group, was unable to refinance its debts. In Spanish law, Med can now suspend all payments to its creditors and pay no financial charges until 2010. After that time, Med can look again at restructuring its debts, or apply to have its voluntary administration extended. La Manga is well known among professional footballers, having opened the doors to its football centre in 1998. Since then, it has been used by hundreds of professional teams, including England, Spain, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Norway and Leicester City. Until 2004, the leisure resort was owned by shipping company P&O, who bought it in 1987, investing £37 million on new hotels and better sports facilities. Controversy has often beset La Manga. Despite its undoubted success in attracting events such as the Spanish Open golf championship, the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup, the resort's links with English football have often proved troublesome.
The Homes Overseas website reported that La Manga's owners blamed economic slowdown for its problems. They quoted a Med Group press release: "The general crisis being suffered by Spain has particularly affected the high-level tourist sector, with significant reductions in bookings and the number of night stays in high-quality resorts such as La Manga Club; this fall in sales has meant that the company has not been able to comply with the business plan expected for 2008." Source: Homes Overseas web site In all likelihood, this business plan involved making repayments on debts held by Med Group. This failure to service debt forced Med Group to seek protection from its creditors. In different economic conditions, the company could have sought to restructure its debts, to ensure that creditors would continue to be repaid to schedule. However, the global slowdown and its intensity in Spain and the UK have clearly hit La Manga hard. 
Dubai has invested billions into construction, education and sports. Will sports teams take advantage? La Manga: A Busted Brand?It is of course debatable whether the La Manga brand had already been irreparably damaged from its links with English football. Some observers have noted for years the resort's ability to attract what they call 'less appealing' types of clientele, as the following quote from the Daily Telegraph from 2004 illustrates: "La Manga, near Cartagena, is more than just a resort. It is considered by some to be a paradise of flowing lager, elegant leisure wear and the natural holidaying destination of Northern Europe's lesser luminaries [...] It has a less glamorous reputation as a middle-management Faliraki where executives can loosen their slacks after a round of golf. In the evenings, the critics say, the resort provides a ring-side seat from where one can watch sporting heroes go on the rampage in the close confines of its nearly all-male bars." Source: Daily Telegraph website Sounds attractive? Perhaps only to celebrity magazine-obsessed individuals. But carry out a survey of the sports training and leisure facilities available to today's professional sportspeople, and it's possible to see why La Manga might have had its day. New resorts, more specifically aimed at athletes, have emerged in recent years to challenge the La Manga model. The rest of this resource looks at a very small selection of these facilities. Train in Spain?Spain offers a good climate for warm-weather training, but sports teams have other options than merely heading to the costas for their breaks. From taking advantage of new Middle East travel opportunities, enjoying grand schemes in oil-rich states, or in Europe, there's a great deal more on offer than was the case 15 or so years ago.
The desert sands of the Gulf are the source of the region's wealth
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