The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE 2013 CARIFTA games generated “well over $1 million” in direct visitor spend a senior tourism official said yesterday, saying that the overall economic impact was far greater when Nassau/Paradise Island hotels were factored in.

Tyrone Sawyer, director of sports tourism, said that conservative estimates suggested that direct visitor spend as a result of the recent games was well over $1 million, with close to 2,000 room nights having been generated from the event. “In terms of impact we are looking at well over $1 million in direct visitor spend, conservatively speaking. This is based on the expenditure of the persons who came. That’s not the total spend. Based on the average spend per visitor, the average spend is well over $1 million. When you talk about the hotel and the benefits to the hotels you are talking about quite a bit more in terms of benefit to the economy. You’re also looking close to 2,000 room nights,” said Mr Sawyer. Carifta organisers had confirmed that 556 athletes from 26 countries were scheduled to participate in the games with approximately 120 officials also expected to attend the event.

Mr Sawyer noted that New Providence will also play host to several other key sporting events in the coming weeks. “The Chris Brown event is flying under the radar and that’s this weekend. You don’t get to see this level of elite athletes up close and personal very often. We have never had this before. We have athletes like Kirani James and Justin Gatlin coming to that event,” Mr Sawyer said.

He added: “We also have the mother load of events when you talk about soccer. We have Tottenham Hotspur, one of the top teams in the English Premier League taking on the Jamaican national team or the Reggae Boyz and that’s on May 23. The Jamaicans are going to play Mexico in the World Cup qualifiers the following week so this is a tune up. Tottenham is going to keep all of their best players for that match. The Albany group which has interest in Tottenham is the player that’s really behind bringing that group to The Bahamas. We see a potential spin off opportunity for investment there.”

Another major sport events on the calendar is the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic. “The Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic will take place on May 22nd - 26th. This is really the first time that we would have hosted a ladies professional golf association event and that is huge. It’s going to give us in addition to anywhere between 4,000 and 5,000 room nights, eight hours of television coverage on the Golf Channel which will have value of about $4 million,” said Mr Sawyer.