Caribbean Must Do More to Tap into Sports Tourism

Amid the increasing potential of sports tourism, the Director General of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), Hugh Riley says the Caribbean must do more to tap into existing and future opportunities in sports tourism.

“The central idea of the value of sports as a magnet to increase tourism to the Caribbean is there. The potential is much greater than we are realizing as yet,” he told Demerara Waves Online News (www.demwwaves.com).

While the CTO boss noted that sports tourism continues to “grow and expand,” he wants the Caribbean to do more to leverage more from sports tourism in the areas of merchandizing and sports personalities as influencers.

“I think that there are opportunities that are untapped as well and there are so many tangents that spread out from the sports figures themselves,” he added.

Riley and Sealy’s comments were made on the margins of a presentation by President of Business of Sports (Jamaica) Carole Beckford for Travel Agents at Caribbean Week New York 2012. “We are about selling the history of the Caribbean athlete to the curious tourist,” said Beckford who is the publicist for Jamaican athlete, Usain Bolt.

Statistics show that there is expected to be a six to 11 percent growth in tourism over the next 15 years, a sign that sports tourists are moving up as one of the highest spending tourists in the world.

Beckford recommended that the Caribbean must have music festivals and “great” restaurants and night clubs as part of a package to take advantage of the region’s growing international sport profile. “We are the leader of the Western world in sports. When you think about it seriously the Caribbean as a destination as a region has experienced the highest growth in sporting credibility and celebrity status in the world,” she said.

Both the CTO Director General and the Barbados Tourism Minister say they support the formation of a special sport tourism mechanism to cash in on existing and future opportunities for the revenue lifeline of most regional countries.

“If there is a demand for it among our member states, then we’ll provide that service without question,” said Riley.

Sealy says sports tourism “needs a closer look by the CTO for sure, no question about it because there is too much on offer.