Government Provides Sports/Tourism Boost

The Government of The Bahamas through the Ministry of Tourism and the Ministry of Education Youth, Sports and Culture has demonstrated an appreciation for working with the World Championships Committee in projecting both sports and tourism.

This is really great.

It is a clear indication to the rest of the sports fraternity in the country that the government is quite willing to partner with them in projects of this kind that enhance the image of the country from a collective sports/ tourism perspective.

This is good.

Accordingly, the government is to be applauded. Sports/tourism is huge around the world. With the explosion of sports as an economic blockbuster in many countries, national governments are in tune with the significance of ensuring the growth of this commodity. Here in The Bahamas, our political leaders have previously been sort of slow in recognizing the true value of sports/tourism. Sure, certain events have always been sponsored by Tourism but for the most part, it is the Ministry of Sports that has had to bear the brunt of the financial load when federations have hosted regional and international sports tourism events.

Just last year for instance, the Ministry of Tourism missed a great opportunity to maximize a marketing situation for the country through the ESPN Live Titan Entertainment/Bahamas Boxing spectacular at Clifford Park.

Hopefully now, the trend has been set.

The Ministry of Tourism has a Sports Department. In the past, that entity and the Ministry of Sports have not been working in unison. I have always advocated that at the beginning of each year, the Tourism Sports Department ought to interact with the Ministry of Sports to peruse the schedule of sporting events in order to make a joint determination of just how the they would work together for the next 12 months to project sports/tourism.

This has not been done.

Now though, all concerned can see the necessity for this to happen. Only then will the country through the central administration benefit appropriately from sports/tourism. But, as the old folks like to say "all things in time."

Once again, congratulations go out to both ministries for the foresight in providing special funding for the World 5.5 Metre Regatta.

Best wishes to the committee and the participants.