Published on : Tuesday, June 10, 2014
Cayman Islands Minister of Sports, Mr Osbourne Bodden, is focused on a number of issues related to local athletes. Bodden addressed sports tourism and infrastructure expenditure during his speech in the Legislative Assembly last week. He said the government was committed to a new stream of public revenue and marketing which would be provided by sports tourism.
“With an increase in numbers of sports tourism events gracing our shores, we have seen an unprecedented number of visiting athletes, supporters and spectators,” Bodden said. “It creates a spin-off to tourism and stay-over tourism down the road. So just as cruise tourism does, sports tourism does the same in that it promotes future stay over tourism and great exposure for these islands.”
Cayman had competitors in those tournaments, produced commendable results and enjoyed a substantial boost to the local economy as visiting athletes stayed in local hotels, used ground transportation and dined at numerous restaurants on island.
Regional powerhouses Honduras, Mexico and the United States were among the featured countries taking part in football and volleyball, with kite-surfing drawing many competitors from Europe.
With the national sport on the upswing, government has focused on upgrading football stadiums. According to government documents, government spent more than $280,000 in the last fiscal year to host the CONCACAF tournaments, while shelling out more than a half-million dollars for renovations at the Cayman Brac Sports Field and $1.4 million for renovations to the Ed Bush Sports Center in West Bay. The Ed Bush upgrades are in preparation for Cayman hosting the CONCACAF Under-15 Girls tournament this summer.
“On the structural side, we have spent millions. We continue to spend as much as we can to provide the infrastructure. We pray the private sector and CONCACAF and FIFA will continue to support and spend their own and invest in these opportunities for our own young people and the benefits that spin off to the country.”
According to Bodden the government has invested at least $2 million over the past year on infrastructure and will continue to spend to upgrade it.
Tags: cayman islands, sports tourism
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