CATEGORY:SPORTS TOURISM
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By Trevor Thwaites, Inside Grenada correspondent
Sunday October 22, 2006


ST. GEORGE ‘S, Grenada - Official of Grenada Sports Limited, Nigel Felton, says that his company has been helping to boost Grenada’s Sports Tourism. Six years into its operations, Felton – a former country cricketer - says that things have gone pretty well. “We want to improve on the numbers we attracted before Hurricane Ivan”, he said. “Up to Hurricane Ivan, we had a significant number of schools and teams coming here, plus the Virgin Cricket Classic.”

“The hurricane put it on hold and we are now inventing the wheel”, Felton said. He indicated that many of the secondary schools, which were here before the hurricane and others are eager to return and that Grenada Sports Limited is working to make this a reality.

More than 20 English Secondary Schools and three English country championship teams have been here as a result of the efforts of the English-based company. Felton said that they are endeavouring to significantly increase the numbers in the coming years.

“We have been using the professional sector to get some profile on Grenada. We have also got the broader leisure markets via the UK tour operators to look at Grenada seriously as a destination worth visiting. That’s what we have been doing.” Grenada Sports Limited has to date brought three country teams – Sussex, Northamptonshire and Yorkshire - for pre-season training camps. Efforts are being made to bring them back next year along with Warwickshire.

The county teams with close friends and relatives and the school contingents with parents, close relatives and friends have on average spent over a week in the country, spending some good British Pounds. Felton said that the venture to date has brought over a million pounds into the local economy. “We are now reinventing the wheel and trying to build on this”, he said. The Grenada Sports Limited officials also announced plans for an upcoming tournament here next month.

He said that five teams, four from England and one from Canada will be here for a one-week seniors’ festival starting the second week in November. The teams expected are Kent, Somerset, Yorkshire and Sussex from England and Vancouver from Canada. Four English teams and a Canadian contingent were also here earlier in the year for a similar engagement. “We are hoping to organize many of these and other engagements like the Virgin Classics to boost sports tourism”, Felton remarked.