MR.GAY SA SCOOPS GROUNDBREAKING SPONSORSHIP

The team bidding to host Mr. Gay World in South Africa in 2012 leaves for Manila on Monday after scooping one of the largest-ever sponsorships of a gay event in the country.

Consisting of Coenie Kukkuk, Operations Director, John-Louis O’Neil, Logistics Manager of Mr. Gay South Africa (Pty) Ltd. as well as Francois Nel, the current Mr. Gay South Africa™, who will represent South Africa at the event, the committee will present their plan for staging the event in 2012, and name the sponsors that have indicated their willingness to support the bid.

Kukkuk also announced that the five star ‘The Fairway Hotel and Golf Resort’, where the Brazilian soccer team stayed during the 2010 Soccer World Cup, has signed an agreement with Mr. Gay South Africa to sponsor the stay of delegates, directors of the event and staff of the event, should South Africa be given the nod for 2012.

“This sponsorship is worth US $50 000 [around R 350 000] and is the single biggest sponsorship of a gay event by a company in South African history, as far as we know,” said Kukkuk.

“It seems that the business community is slowly but surely accepting the value of the ‘Pink Rand’ and those companies who are not cultivating this very valuable niche market are falling behind future trends.”

Other sponsors such as Club Travel Honeydew, who sponsored the travel and accommodation costs of the bid committee in Manila, international skincare company, Maria Garcia International™, Babylon Nightclub in Pretoria, Kat-Man-Doo gay resort in Dullstroom, Nomdeni Lodges in Nelspruit and Bodyworks in Pretoria have also supported the bid.

The host country for the 2012 Mr. Gay World event will be announced at the Grand Finale of Mr. Gay World 2011 in Manila, on Sunday, 13 March.