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

Socio-cultural-use tourism to improve the well being of the population

including the cultural diversity of the society

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

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

(Source: www.islandmix.com)

National Cycling

Velodrome

National Aquatic

Centre

Ato Boldon

Stadium

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

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.