The Tribune

THE Ministry of Tourism has hailed the teamwork that helped to bring NBA Champions Miami Heat to The Bahamas for their pre-season training camp.

Greg Rolle, Director of Sports Tourism, said: “The minister put together a ground team that included all departments and other areas in government as a team to showcase The Bahamas at its best.

“One of the things that the Minister of Tourism has given me is the directive to bring in high-end tourists to the country. And we start the process of basically showing the world that we want to take The Bahamas global in the Sports Tourist Industry.”

He added: “Think about the Miami Heat comes here; they now have the reach that takes The Bahamas global (in terms of Sports Tourism). Everyone is going to know about The Bahamas.

“The Bahamas has been working with the Miami Heat in terms of trying to get them to come to The Bahamas. When you look at it, The Bahamas is only 46 miles off the Florida coast. No better neighbour The Bahamas could be than to bring the Miami Heat to The Bahamas. We did that by basically reaching out to them and said we would like to be your partner in terms of sports.

We got together and created a comprehensive plan that shows two things, one, co-branding and two, business development. We want Miami Heat to drive their fan base to the destination.”

The Ministry of Tourism spends an estimated $25 million in advertising the country around the world. “But with the Miami Heat training camp, that was done with zero dollars,” Mr Rolle said.

Geneva Cooper, senior director of global communication, noted that The Bahamas got “great coverage” prior to the arrival of the Miami Heat team.

“We’ve had quite a number of international media on the island to cover the event and they have all been very pleased for what we have done to accommodate them and of course we’ve had the social media channels buzzing.”

John Nixon, director of safety and security, said security was arranged in collaboration with the Royal Bahamas Police Force and Atlantis security.

“It took a lot of planning with the police force and Atlantis – we are working 24 hours around the clock. And as far as what we have in place it’s the best in the world right now,” he said.