Developing Sport Tourism in Trinidad and Tobago: Issues and Challenges anand rampersad University of the West Indies St. Augustine, Trinidad European Sport and Tourism Summit 14-15 May 2015 Limerick, Ireland
Trinidad and Tobago Overview
Twin Island Republic
Independence from England 31st August 1962
Republican status 1976
Tropical climate, with rainy season June- December
Area: 5,128 Square miles
Language: English
Populations: 1.3 million (2010 census)
Multi-ethnic- dominant groups Afro- and Indo
Multi-religious and variety of cultural festivals such as carnival and the Tobago Jazz festival
Differences in the Tourism Products of Trinidad and Tobago
Monthly Air Arrivals 2005-2010
Tourism Policy T&T (2010) Goals ď ľ
Socio-cultural-use tourism to improve the well being of the population including the cultural diversity of the society
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Economic- use tourism to diversify the economy in terms of its contribution to GDP in terms of revenue, direct and indirect employment and inter-sectoral linkages
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Environmental- ensuring that the ensuring that the environment is used in a positive manner and not to its degradation
National Sporting Icons
Draft Sport Tourism Policy (2013) Goals
Focus on active tourism; event sport tourism and nostalgia sport tourism???
Become the hub for sport tourism in the Anglophone
Utilise elite athletes in the branding and marketing of Trinidad and Tobago as a sport tourist destination
Engaging in the support and facilitation of bidding and hosting of events
Develop framework that engages and facilitates the national sporting bodies of Trinidad and Tobago
Draft Sport Tourism 2013 Targets
Significantly increase the contribution of tourism and sport to GDP (Need Quantification)
Increase visitor arrivals and visitor expenditures (need to quantify visitor target and Cannot speculate tourist expenditure)
Increase the quantity and quality of jobs generated by the tourism and sports industry (Need Quantification)
Increase multiplier effect throughout the economy
National Aquatic Centre, Cycling Velodrome and Ato Boldon Stadium, Couva, Trinidad National Aquatic Centre
National Cycling Velodrome
Ato Boldon Stadium
(Source: www.islandmix.com)
Issues and Challenges to Developing Sport Tourism in T&T- Conceptualization
Theoretically, tourism has to be contextualized in the development process of a post colonial state.
Does tourism reinforce the concept of servitude connected to colonialism and anti-thesis to the concept of Independence and Republicanism?
Oil and Gas economy
Implications for changing:
Culture
Education
Service provision
Sovereignty vs tourist rights
Issues and Challenges to Developing Sport Tourism in T&T- Advocacy
Advocacy – who will drive the sport policy?
If government driven, there is a tendency for policies and programmes to be shelved when governments change.
Are vested interest all on board- ministries, THA etc?
The issue of funding has to be clearly identified.
Will the private sector provided with funding and the freedom to promote sporting events without governmental involvement?
Perception of importance – how much value do we place on sports and tourism? Sporting heroes?
Issues and Challenges to Developing Sport Tourism in T&T- Data and Research
Data – data collection; timeliness
Tourist profiles- supply vs demand likes, interests
Feedback data- allows review of strategies in the planning process
Linkages to wider societal developmental plans
A list of key stakeholders were identified as important in the planning process but neither universities were mentioned to provided scholarly input!
Issues and Challenges to Developing Sport Tourism in T&T- Signature Events
What type of events? Mega-Events vs smaller events
Identifying signature events for sustainability e.g. Annual test match- boxing test match in Melbourne Australia
Will it be cost effective to go this route? Will any assessment be conducted before decisions are made especially if the government is the main agitator?
Off-season events- for example Barbados provides training for English clubs such as Hampshire prior to cricket season, other sports
Issues and Challenges to Developing Sport Tourism in T&T-Marketing
Marketing – unique, attractive, different
How do you sell something as being a totally wow experience to tourists?
Challenge already established countries within the region whose economies have been built on tourism- such Barbados, Antigua, St. Lucia, Grenada, Bahamas
New emerging markets such as Cuba- 50 years of ‘secrecy’ to be unveiled.
Issues and Challenges to Developing Sport Tourism in T&T- Peripheral
Sport tourism can not be developed in a vacuum, it will be affected by issues facing the tourism industry generally:
Training and staffing – specialized education; tertiary education for all – what implications does this have for the service industry
Security-crime
Transportation; traffic
Hotel- no hotels in close proximity to National Aquatic Centre and National Cycling Velodrome
Health facilities – NB: where will injured athletes and participants go? Availability of Blood etc
Emergency response measures- hospitals, police, fire services, ODPM (Office of Disaster Preparedness and Management)
Conclusion ď ľ The
idea of developing sport tourism in Trinidad and Tobago is welcomed however, if not properly understood, planned, implemented, monitored and evaluated it will either be stillborn or worst yet amount to immense wastage of scare resources.