BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - WITH the tourism sector slowly rebounding and St. Kitts and Nevis being careful with the way the sector is reopened to international traveller, officials are considering the option of sports tourism.
The Federation will be hosting the Caribbean Premier League, which bowls off on Thursday (Aug. 26) at the Warner Park Cricket Stadium, and Tourism Minister Lindsay Grant believes that the games would lend themselves to many opportunities for the islands.
Currently, the tourism sector is struggling to deal with the fallout from the position taken by the Governor of Florida with regards to safe cruising to the region, and that has prompted tourism officials to rethink their strategy towards a rebound in the sector.
Grant reminded that brand St. Kitts and Nevis would be on full display at the games, beginning with the country brand being emblazoned across the playing jersey of the Patriots franchise.
That, the Minister reminded, has given the opportunity to reach a number of people in territories that they would not ordinarily be able to market towards.
“We have a consistent avenue for our tourism product to showcase itself ,” the Minister noted.
With economists reminding the world that no longer could countries return to their old way of tourism, the Indian market, which has become a lucrative target the world over, is now the focus for the Minister.
Tourism officials believe that emphasis should now be placed on the Asian nation, which has a population of more than 1.3 billion people among whom are the third highest highest number of billionaires in the world.
“I think that the Indian market is where we need to start doing some work to break into. It is a very large market for us to project our destination,” disclosed Grant.
Now that the Caribbean Premier League is to be played at Warner Park, the Government is pulling all stops, including branding, to promote the country as a destination.
Expressing the lessons learnt from COVID-19 and what can sports tourism do to aid the rebound, Minister Grant acknowledged that it is an area in which they held discussions for a very long time but have not been very focused on.
Against that backdrop, he said that discussions must be had between the Ministry of Tourism and Sport to chart a course on how best the two could work to benefit St. Kitts and Nevis.
“It is a good avenue for us as a small destination where we will definitely have to go back to the drawing board. I have been speaking with the Minister of Sports in terms of some collaborations, so we have already started those discussions,” added Grant.
St. Kitts and Nevis has slowly been developed as the new destination for major sports tournaments, as it plays home to Patriots franchise in the Caribbean Premier League, matches in the West indies Home Series under the International Cricket Council tour, and is playing host to tournaments on the International Tennis Federation World Junior Tour.
