SPORTS Director of the Tourism Development Company (TDC) Manohar Ramsaran feels Trinidad and Tobago is poised to become a major Sports Tourism destination.
The former sports minister speaking at the launch of the 2nd Carib Tobago International Rugby 7’s Tournament on Friday said the TDC will be using the December 8th and 9th event at the Bon Accord Recreation ground to help enhance the country’s sports tourism product.
Brian Stollmeyer, one of the organisers of the rugby tournament said after consultation with the TDC sports director they have decided to use the women’s side of the tournament to encourage tourist by putting up prize money.
“We want to try to develop women’s sport in Tobago, not only rugby but also T20 cricket, basketball, and football.
We believe if women move to play sport men will follow and that is basically a theory. The other factor is that when men go on tour, they don’t often take their wives and girlfriends sisters and mothers along. Women on the other hand will take family members, whether it be their husbands, boyfriends, sisters and mothers, and this will create a critical mass which will be good for the sport,” said Stollmeyer.
Six overseas teams, two from Canada, and one each from Scotland, the United States, Barbados and Guyana will compete along with four women teams from Trinidad and Tobago for a top prize of US$5,000. The monetary prizes will extend up to the fourth place finishers.
Ramsaran indicated that the TDC started their efforts with the just concluded International Hockey Federation (FIH) World League Round One Tournament held at the National Hockey Centre, Tacarigua earlier in the month.
“The Tournament was a tremendous success and the TDC played its role there. We want to get the same for cricket and we will be having a tri-nation tournament between India, Sri Lanka and the West Indies next June, I do not know whether it will be 50 overs or 20/20, that is another major event for us.
We also have the CAC games sometime in March and then the Under-19 rugby tournament in July,” said the former Sports Minister.
The TDC Sports Director said Tobago is already one of the leading sports tourism destinations in the West Indies.
“When we look at the island and all that there is to offer with proper planning and net working this could only get better and better.” He also indicated that sports have to be looked at as an industry rather than just being sports. “It must not be anything else, it is big business.
We no longer should have petty people running sport; we need people with vision to work with the government and the corporate community to make sport tourism something that we would be proud of in Trinidad and Tobago.”
By Kevin Sunich
Source: www.newsday.co.tt