After our recent class sessions about project management and a brief intro to forecasting one article online caught my eye. Although I am not a car fanatic or know much about the sport, this (past) weekend the Formula One race was held in Singapore. Along with the race itself, negotiations for Singapore to continue hosting the event for the next five years were also underway.  Prior to these negotiations data had to be collected and analyzed to see what needs to be done for the upcoming years. Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry expect the expenses to hold the event to drop about 15 to 20 percent. This drop in expenses will come from “optimization of infrastructure, operational efficiencies in the race organization and revised terms with the race promoter.” This is good since the government co-funds about 60 percent of the cost which ultimately comes from tax payer dollars.  Along with this the event coordinators expect an increase in tourism as well as an increase in attendance to the event. “The event will help boost tourists as Singapore forecasts arrivals to increase to 17 million and tourism spending to reach S$30 billion by 2015.” According to the article, the event has attracted more than 150,000 international visitors over the past four years and has brought in about $140 million to $150 million, in Singapore dollars, annually and these numbers are expected to increase.  Due to the popularity and size of the event, more companies have decided to sponsor the event. Also after looking at flight information the country has noticed that people are arriving earlier therefore staying longer which also plays a role into the way the above figures will change in upcoming years.

As we mentioned in class, there is a lot of planning that goes into big events like this whether it’s building the infrastructure to hold the event, deciding when and where to hold it, and how to fund the event. There will always be obstacles you will have to work around because you will most likely never have ideal circumstances. In the case of the Formula One event, it helps that the city has hosted this event before and therefore already has most of the planning done and many of the components necessary which allows them to adjust these factors and improve on them for future years. Previously hosting the event also helps them in the forecasting that they did for the upcoming years. But even with all the data and information gathered there is always room for error and anything can happen from now until next year.

 

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-23/singapore-cuts-formula-1-costs-in-extension-deal-southeast-asia.html