BRIAN STOLLMEYER
“Sports Tourism” is a very catchy phrase that suggests different things to different people, but at its most basic level, it simply means getting people from elsewhere to visit your country primarily to engage in playing or watching a game or games of some description. The benefits for the host nation are not difficult to imagine, and we in T&T are blessed with several natural advantages that make this niche in the tourism industry almost an “automatic” fit. With the additions of the new Cycling Velodrome and the Aquatic Centre in Trinidad, we should be in a position to become the “sports capital of the region.”
Thirty years ago, when three or four friends decided to organise a Rugby 7s Tournament in Trinidad and invite the other Caribbean countries to participate, the aim was to rejuvenate the rugby rivalry amongst the West Indian islands and no one gave any thought to the “tourism” aspect of the event at that time. Time has moved on, however, and the essence of that event has been staged in Tobago each December over the last five years, with between 600 and 800 people coming from all corners of the world to participate and watch what has morphed from the then “LIAT 7s” to the now Tobago International Rugby 7s Tournament (www.tobago7s.com).
Last year, in addition to both local and regional teams, a total of 12 women’s teams came from Canada, USA, UK and even New Zealand, to compete and the same number of men’s teams made the trek to Tobago as well. The event began with the teams each singing a Christmas carol of their choice on the bandstand at the Store Bay Beach Facility on the Thursday evening, followed by an afternoon of goat racing the next day, where the visitors participated as the “jockeys” in each race and placed bets on their favourite goat. Hugely entertaining! After the first day’s play on Saturday, everyone was entertained at the Katzenjammers Panyard opposite the magnificent ground at Black Rock, and the post-tournament party went on into the early hours of the morning at The Shade Nightclub when the rugby was all over the next day. A final all-day party with lots of free Carib beer, food (a la Dip Singh) and music at Store Bay stretched things even further on Monday afternoon, but once again our visitors—having enjoyed two full days of tough competition and true Trinbagonian hospitality—left contentedly, each and every one of them vowing to return next year.
T&T climate good
for sports tourism
Sports Tourism—like eco tourism—should be an easy sell, particularly for Tobago. Even without the Dwight Yorke Stadium, we already have an abundance of under-utilised state-controlled sporting facilities (both indoor and outdoor) around the island and an over-supply of people and local clubs who are only too happy to host and test their skills against almost any opposition “from foreign” at the drop of a hat (including on midweek, supposedly “working” days). The climate is excellent, even for cricket in the rainy season these days, and there are lots of restaurants which offer almost every type of food that one can imagine within easy reach of most hotels at competitive prices. The range of hotels, guest houses and apartments at visitors’ disposal is wide, varied and are usually virtually empty except for the weeks of Carnival, Easter and Christmas, so almost everyone can find somewhere to stay which is in keeping with their budget. Non playing days are easily filled with an array of interesting places to see, from Buccoo Reef to Speyside and there is much to explore and do around the island. The cost of living is normally less than it is in the visitors’ homeland, and Tobagonians are basically a friendly, unpretentious people who are naturally shy, but welcome foreigners in their own special way.
A sports tourism event is relatively easy and inexpensive to market because each sport has its own fairly specific “channels of knowledge” which are well known amongst those who play it and thus costly, full-page spreads in The New York Times in USA or The Daily Telegraph in England are wasteful and unnecessary. Relatively inexpensive ads placed in the best international magazine pertaining to the specific sport that is being targeted is usually a far more effective method of marketing an event. Social media is also a very powerful tool in this regard and it costs only the time taken to post promotional information. Undoubtedly, there is tremendous scope for expansion into a substantial industry, especially as we are in desperate need of the foreign exchange that sports tourists—who are usually reasonably wealthy individuals—spend when they are here.
So why is it that there will NOT be a Tobago International Rugby 7s Tournament 2016? Why is there no more the successful, popular annual Tobago Sail Week that a small group of sailing enthusiasts organised year after year until recently, that helped to fill empty hotel rooms, brought umpteen yachts, rich folks and their money to Tobago? Whatever happened to the Kite Boarding Carnival which attracted the best exponents of the sport from all over Europe and beyond to Pigeon Point after the Carnival rush was over, for several years? The annual Tobago Car Rally has died as well, I think, and the International Cycling Classic is dependent on the amazing, stubborn durability of a single individual who continues to organise it despite the many obstacles he faces every year.
Why don’t we stage annual International Schools, Over 35s, or masters events in cricket, hockey, rugby, cycling, swimming, tennis, table-tennis, squash, badminton, volleyball, chess, basketball, netball, football, etc, etc, for women and for men? Although the petty jealousies of sporting bodies (who should encourage, rather than oppose, any addition to their sport’s international calendar) often contribute to the event organisers’ difficulties, the main reason, and this goes for Trinidad as well, is civil service’s attitude and its refusal to assist and commit other than casually and verbally. “Yea man, we go support dat” and “You go get de grounds, man” which sometimes turn out to be “Tings hard, boy, but ah go see what ah could do” and “Boy, you know we had to relay de track las’ week” (despite several meetings and requests for written commitments) are very different to the professional, itemised list of elements that are part and parcel of stakeholders’ agreements elsewhere in the region.
Sports events take planning, commitment
In the other Caribbean territories, the initial response from the civil service to any proposal that might put heads on beds is “How can I help you?”; “What do you need from us and when do you need our written confirmation?”; “Maybe we can help you by providing X,Y and Z as well?” rather than the blank stare or comments such as “You go do dat?” which is typical of the reaction from government quarters in sweet T&T. The other islands know that people do not decide today that they are going to participate in an event which is taking place in another country tomorrow. They need several months and often as much as a year, to decide where they are going on a sporting holiday. Sports event organisers must therefore provide them with the assurances they require at least 12 months in advance in order to attract them and this requires detailed planning, so commitments are required from all involved, well in advance.
Sadly (but I must say, with a single notable exception), by and large, the people on whom our taxpayers rely to promote sports tourism in a serious, sensible manner either cannot, or simply will not, do their jobs. These high-salaried civil servants will never have to account for their on-the-job performances and they will continue to enjoy going regularly to tourism shows around the world with Brian, Russell, Darren and other sporting celebrities, talking and talking and talking about sports tourism, but never actually doing anything substantive to promote the industry. So after begging and begging for action and responses over and over and over, I have to say Rest In Peace, Tobago International Rugby 7s Tournament–everyone loved you and the country benefited tremendously from your existence. The five years of relentless determination, perseverance and struggle to get the people who work for us in this field to understand has meant nothing because nothing has changed and even despite the new economic realities in T&T, nothing is likely to change. It is with a heavy heart that I must say, “so be it.” There is only so much that one can do and “every rope have an end.” Barbados tourism and Barbados rugby are the beneficiaries, come December 2016 and beyond.