The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS

Senior Sports Reporter

bstubbs@tribunemedia.net

MIAMI, Florida - It was dubbed the ‘Bahamas Tourism and Baha Mar Theme Night’ and it was an opportunity to show off the Bahamas to the world.

With Prime Minister Perry Christie and Minister of Tourism Obie Wilchcombe sitting in the front row in the American Airlines Arena, reprersentative of the ministry and the luxury mega resort spent the night enticing spectators at the National Basketball Association (NBA) game between the Heat and the Brooklyn Nets with a taste of what to expect when they visit the Bahamas.

Three members - Tia Ferguson, Shannae Strachan and Daronique Young - entertained the crowd in their costumes as they represented the Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival that will be held from May 7-9 and the opening of the new Baha Mar resort on March 27.

Matt Albury, Director of Partnerships at Baha Mar, said when they were invited to join by the ministry, they jumped on the idea because they got to spread their message of their new and exciting resort that they are getting ready to open.

“We are very excited to showcase our resort to the world,” said Albury, who with Genevieve Conroy, the vice president of Residential Sales and Marketing and five other members, spent a lot of time entertaining the audience occupying the luxury booths in the suites in the upper deck.

“We got a chance to talk about the restaurants and the other amenities that we have to offer on our property when we have our opening.

“We are very excited to be here and we hope that the audience were able to get to share in the experience of coming to the Bahamas,” Albury said.

All of the fans at the game, which was won by the Heat 104-98, received some type of memorabilia from the Ministry of Tourism, promoting the opening of Baha Mar, the IAAF World Relays on May 1-2 and the Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival.

Baha Mar also gave away trips to the Bahamas for some members of the audience to visit Baha Mar and they closed out the night with a post-game celebration that took place in the Hyde in the AAA that featured DJ Irie, who helped to further push the resort where more giveaways were given to those who attended.

Attendees also got a chance to sample a new drink called Baha Mar that will be provided exclusively at their resort.

“We are looking for a real strong return on our investment because we have an audience that is very close to the Bahamas where they come for recreation, whether it is in Nassau, Grand Bahama or Bimini,” Albury said. “What we are now doing is letting them know that we have an incredible hotel that they can come and take advantage of what we have to offer.”

Through the partnership that they are forging with the Heat, Albury said they are looking forward to having sporting events of this nature at their resort, although they are still working on exactly what it will be like, but he assured the public that once they do, local residents and visitors will be impressed.

“People are working around the clock towards our March 27 opening and we have people, not only working on the construction side but in all aspects as we get ready to open,” he said.”We are really excited about our summer offering, which will be calling our Riviera Summer.

“We will have some exciting things to do this summer and we believe that the South Floridians and the Bahamas will come together, so we are very excited about what will unfold by the end of the month when our doors open for the first time to the world.”

Neither Christie or Wilchcombe were available for comments, but Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture, Dr Daniel Johnson said the collaboration of the two entities was brilliant.

“We said last year that we are going to launch our Sports in Paradise, bring it to reality,” Johnson said. “People have talked about this for years, but I want to congratulate the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Tourism, Baha Mar and Atlantis for really making Sports Tourism come to life in the Bahamas. This demonstrates the power of it.”

Johnson said already a number of activities have taken place in the Bahamas in Sports Tourism and they are looking forward to more.

“This is a golden year for the Bahamas,” he said. “We have people who come from humble beginnings, who have gotten onto the world stage and as a country coming together, we want to show the world that we have a place to play in the global franchise that is sports and our place is unique.”

Young, speaking on behalf of her two collegues, said it was just an amazing experience for them as they also got a chance to interact with the Miami Heat Dancers during the halftime show and also as they visited the various suites inside the arena.

“It was so wonderful and I am so honoured to be considered to be a part of this initiative,” Young said. “The energy in the stadium and reaching the massive amount of people in the stadium for Bahamas Carnival was just amazing. We’ve reached millions of people because we know there is a large number of people who follow the Heat and hopefully they can get the message of what we are hosting at Bahamas Junkanoo Carnival.”