Building a sustainable sports industry in the Caribbean
In my previous article titled “New Paradigms in Sport”, I discussed the concept of the Long-Term Athlete Development Pathway which relates to engendering a sports culture and developing physical literacy, along with the development of the whole athlete. The article underscored the value of this approach to the general socio-economy and pointed to the need for a new approach to sport development in Jamaica and across the wider Caribbean. A paradigm shift!
Thankfully, there is evidence that professional sport will continue to experience increased popularity and growth across the region. In Jamaica, football is gradually moving in that direction, as exemplified by the recent establishment of Professional Football Jamaica Limited – the new body responsible for the marketing of the Jamaica Premier League football. The body is managed by key private sector officials and supported by private sector stakeholders. Critical to the development of any professional sport industry is the availability of trained specialist personnel. These are the experts, besides the coach, who attend to the various needs of the athlete, and indeed, the very industry itself. Increasingly, competitive modern sport requires expertise in such areas as sports nutrition, sports medicine, sports psychology, athletic training and sports physiotherapy. A recent article in the newspaper spoke of Netball Jamaica employing a sport psychologist to assist the squad. The sports industry itself thrives on the expertise of sports managers, marketing experts, venue managers and sports journalists/ sports media consultants. In order to develop this range of expertise, training is required.
A major part of the sport industry is supported by the movement of people between different locales or countries as it inspires large numbers of people to travel to participate in or observe events. This is sports tourism, a concept in which sports and tourism are inextricably connected and have a major socio-economic impact. It is described by the International Olympic Committee and the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) as “travel which involves observing or participating in a sporting event while staying apart from the tourist’s usual environment”. According to the UNWTO, sports tourism was worth US$800 billion in 2016 and constituted more than 10 per cent of international travel and tourism receipts. Interestingly, Jamaica was awarded the title of the Caribbean’s Leading Sports Tourism Destination in 2012 by the World Travel Awards, an achievement no doubt influenced by the extraordinary Olympic feats of Usain Bolt, Shelly Ann Fraser Pryce, Asafa Powell and other Jamaican Olympians.
Jamaica and the wider Caribbean region are ripe for sports tourism. The world-renowned Antigua Sailing Week is arguably the most lucrative sports tourism product in the Caribbean. Peter Adrien in his book Sports Tourism (2008) describes the event as ‘the largest in the English-speaking Caribbean and among the top five in the world’. He further states that the event attracts mariners from over 30 countries and contributes significant revenue to the economy of Antigua and Barbuda. Countries like Grenada and Barbados host annual visits of entire sports teams that come for extensive periods of winter training. Malta, in the Mediterranean, boasts the facilities and expertise to serve as a major off-season training destination for several professional teams in sports such as rugby, soccer, hockey, and cricket.
However, to realize growth, professional sport and sports tourism both require clear policy positions, targeted inputs of infrastructure and especially expertise. Prudent and pragmatic actions must be taken to revive and advance the sport sector toward being a viable and sustainable beacon of development for the country. It is important, therefore, for policy makers to outline more clearly the function of sport and recreational activities in the action plan for national development and to stimulate the development of an environment that is conducive to the establishment of a viable sport business sector. This includes, in collaboration with the private sector, the proliferation of appropriate indoor and outdoor facilities for training and tournaments.
Sports education is central to developing the required expertise to support the industry. Within the secondary education system, youth must not only be exposed to competitive sports but sensitized to the career choices and entrepreneurial possibilities in sport as well. The key objective here is the development of a robust sport culture and supportive infrastructure, buoyed by targeted promotion and marketing strategies. Undeniably, this will demand greater synergy among government, educational institutions, sports organizations, the private sector and tourism stakeholders.
Sports events and tourism can, indeed, be a winning combination that can generate significant revenue through the hosting of mega and small sporting events, sponsorship deals, availability of off-season and winter training facilities and the provision of a wide range of expertise in sports-related services, thereby generating sustainable economic pathways for Caribbean nations. It is for all of us to make this a reality.
John Campbell is a sports physiotherapist and a rehabilitation specialist.
