These views were expressed by participants of the Jang Economic Session held here on Tuesday on “Cricket World Cup: Impact on Economy”.
The participants included former chairman of the Pakistan Cricket Board Khalid Mahmood, Senior Vice President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Adnan Sarwar Kapoor, Economist Dr Hafiz Khalil Ahmed, Cricket Goods Manufacturers and Executive Committee member SCCI Malik Zahid and former vice-president of the Lahore Stock Exchange (LSE) Tabasum Munir. Sikandar Hameed Lodhi and Intikhab Tariq jointly hosted the session.
Khalid Mahmood said that in 1999 when he was the PCB chief, the main sponsorship was around $30 million, other than many sub-sponsorships which now had increased by five to seven times. The sponsorship money was ultimately distributed among the countries participating in and organising the event, helping the wheels of their economy moving, he added.
The world cup, he said, also boosted the commercial activities in the host-countries which could be seen in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India. He said tourism industry in the countries would witness 100 per cent improvement during the cricket event. Hotels of the cities holding the event would also be packed to capacity, he said.
Adnan Sarwar Kapoor said that cricket bats with ‘Made in Pakistan’ stamps were popular in the world and fetched the best price from their competitors. Pakistani share in global trade of bats was 60 percent, he said, adding that the manufacturers of cricket sports goods maintained their place and share in the world market without any support from the government authorities.
He said that the authorities and ministry concerned should consult with the sports industry and other stakeholders and facilitate them, to increase the exports. He said Pakistan had lost its tennis rackets business 25 years ago due to neglect by the government.
If the attitude was not changed, the cricket bats industry would also face the same fate. Not only China was also involved in the industry, India had improved its technology with the government support, he said.
Dr Hafiz Khalil Ahmed said the cricket world cup always had a direct impact on Pakistan’s economy. He said Pakistan annually earned a huge foreign exchange from export of sports goods. He said cellular industries had increased their marketing campaigns during the world cup.
He said if the world cup matches were also be held in Pakistan, it would promote hotel and other relevant industries, urging the nation to show sportsmanship spirit and not to damage infrastructure in case the national team faced defeat in the world cup.
Malik Zahid said the Pakistani bat industry was sharing global demand with its own brand names. He said annually cricket goods manufacturing industry was exporting 15 million US dollar bats from Pakistan with good distributors network. He said the bat industry imported English Willow for quality bats at higher rates, stressing the need to promote the plantation of English Willow in the country.
Tabasum Munir said one third of the world population was caught in cricket fever, adding the event was having a good impact on the economy of the countries hosting the event. Historically, he said, stock market turnover and trading volume declined during the mega sports events but recovered after the event was over.
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