Foreword

The Hon. Lisa R. Cummins

Minister of Tourism and International Transport

Sports tourism has been widely regarded as one of the fastest growing niche markets in recent years. According to World Tourism Organisation (WTO), sports tourism accounts for approximately 12-15 million international arrivals each year, with a growth forecast of around 6% per year in the short term. It represents 10% of the world tourism industry with a turnover of approximately USD$600 billion. The Businesswire, one of the world’s leading research agencies has forecasted that between 2018 and 2023, the industry would grow incrementally by 32.3% year on year and translating to an additional USD$6.12 billion in absolute terms.

The Government of Barbados continues to recognize the invaluable contribution of sports to its tourism sector and its linkages to other sectors. Arrival statistics reveal that Barbados receives on average 6,000 arrivals per annum for sporting purposes. However, it has been argued that these numbers might be understated as approximately 10,000 – 12,000 visitors travel annually as spectators or supporters to sports events or just to practice or learn a particular sport such as kite surfing or golf whilst on holiday.

Over the years, Barbados has hosted several world-class sporting activities such as the Run Barbados Marathon Weekend, Barbados Open Water Swim, Sol Rally Barbados, WSL Barbados Surf Pro, Rugby Barbados Worlds, Sir Garfield Sobers Festival of Golf and the Sir Garfield Sobers International Schools Cricket Tournament.

Undoubtedly, cricket continues to be a major driver in Barbados’ sports tourism thrust with events such as the Caribbean Premier League contributing significantly to the economy. In addition, the island continues to benefit from the continued emergence of a number of locally developed initiatives such as the Barbados Ninja Throwdown, Barbados Open Water Swim, Barbados IslandFit Games and Mindful Living Barbados (wellness event), widening the appeal of the destination to an even more diverse audience. Other sporting activities include motorsport, football, golf, distance running, beach and watersport type activities.

The global pandemic has certainly presented several challenges for most countries. Despite this, Barbados, as a mature destination, has repositioned itself to capitalise on emerging trends in sports tourism where a multiplicity of events are combined with music festivals. It is known that the sporting and events traveller will intentionally structure their itinerary around specific events to enjoy the experience.

This trend was explicit at the recently concluded 2020 Dubai International Heritage Sports Exhibition and Conference (DIHSEC) held in Dubai, when the sport of Barbados, road tennis, gained prominence as champions Christophe Nickels of Luxemborg and Emma Hoang of Belgium were victorious, having learnt the sport from the Barbadian coaches on hand. The sport attracted participants from over 34 countries who learnt of the sport at the event for the very first time. We will certainly continue to capitalise on the different motivators for sports-related travel in order to stimulate growth and enhance our competitiveness.

It is my pleasure to also announce that during 2022, several sporting events will be hosted in Barbados. The Caribbean race season’s opening regatta, the Barbados Sailing Week, is scheduled for January 18-23, 2022. The event will consist of the Mount Gay Round Barbados Race and two days of coastal racing on the West and South coast. This is a world-class event which attracts top class competition and it is expected that scores of visitors will flock to Barbados to participate.

Additionally, the island will welcome the England Cricket Team to its shores to play a five-match T20I series against the West Indies between January 22-30, 2022. The English team will return to Barbados to play a three-match Test Series in March 2022 honouring the two great legends of cricket, Sir Vivian Richards and Lord Ian Botham. The Test Series will start appropriately at the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium (SVRS) in Antigua on March 8, 2022, before moving to the Kensington Oval in Barbados for the 2nd Test starting on March 16.

It is also expected that the Barbados Surf Pro event will be held in early 2022. It is an international surfing competition and attracts competitors from UK, France USA, Puerto Rico, Brazil, Hawaii, Japan, Spain, Australia, New Zealand, Peru and Argentina, to mention a few. It is therefore expected that scores of visitors including the media, participants, crew, family and friends will visit Barbados to enjoy our beautiful shores and all its offerings.

It must be stated that our ultimate goal is to ensure that Barbados as a destination remains top of mind for the visitor and we intend to take advantage of the various benefits that can be derived from sports tourism. We will build on our past legacy while strategically capitalizing on emerging trends and new initiatives to complement our product offerings. Moreover, we will continue to highlight our culture and heritage so that not only our loyal repeat visitors will return to the island but other travellers will also want to visit Barbados to enjoy the authentic Bajan experiences.

I therefore wish to congratulate Pamela Hiles and her team on another successful year of this publication and on the behalf of the Government of Barbados, thank them for their invaluable support in highlighting the development of sports tourism in Barbados.