The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENIZE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

TOURISM officials said yesterday that hosting the NBA champion Miami Heat for their pre-season training camp at Atlantis will boost this country’s reputation as “the destination” for sports tourism in the region.

Sports tourism director, Greg Rolle, told this newspaper that the Ministry was looking to attract more “big ticket” sporting events to this destination.

He said that while the Bahamas was known as a vacation destination, it was not yet well-known as a sports tourism destination.

“With the Miami Heat coming here, the whole world will know about the Bahamas because we’re going to use that machinery to get us on top of the sporting world, and say that the Bahamas is able to host any major sporting event,” Mr Rolle said.

“We’re putting this on our resume to tell the world that we want to welcome them to the Bahamas, to bring their sports initiatives to the county and we could facilitate it. We were able to showcase that within the destination all government agencies as well as the private sector was willing to work together.

“The Bahamas is known for sun, sand and sea, but now we’re going to focus on the sporting events. With the recent training camp, the flood gates will open up and we’re going to go after those other groups and tournaments to come to the country. That will be key for us.”

Mr Rolle said the Ministry of Tourism was seeking to attract sporting events not only to New Providence but to the Family Islands as well.

“We’re not just going to be Nassau centric,” he added.

“We’re going to look to attract the smaller tournaments and events to the Family Islands, which can accommodate events like cycling, for instance,” Mr Rolle said.

“We have the LPGA event coming up in January and then, of course, we have the IAAF world relays. Those are big ticket items.

“We’re just getting started with this. We’re now going to have a lot of things. We have a partnership programme with the Miami Heat, and so we are going to be expanding for more, so we will have a long-term reach with them. We’re also working with the Miami Dolphins to start putting those things in place. Next year we’re going to have Dan Marino down here with a flag football event.”