The Cricket World Cup has precipitated a tragedy of immense proportions to the citizens of these cricket loving West Indies Islands. Stands without an adequate number of patrons; hoteliers in serious trouble; small business shut out from selling their wares; contracts issued to most non Caribbean entities, murder of coach in Jamaica; India and Pakistan goes home; Cricket fans canceling tickets to super eight games; Tourism marketers spending more money to boost failing numbers; hundreds of million spent on new infrastructure, music banned from venues; legitimate security personnel searched by mock police in Barbados; Islands giving away tickets to boost numbers; tickets priced way beyond the reach of Caribbean citizens. What a disaster!
The debacle continues. Caribbean Countries will be counting their losses long after the cricket is over. Governments and cricket officials will try to spin the utter failure of this experiment. Caribbean governments surrendered their sovereignty to Malcolm Speed and The International Cricket Council ICC. They took the guts out of the West Indian fan and now ask for their support and compliance. Go Away I have nothing (line from Errol Hill’s “ the Beggar man)
We nevertheless, need to pick up the pieces and move on. We cannot mope forever. Let these fragile economic islands redouble their efforts at nation building. The Fiasco of Cricket World Cup is over. We have to find ways of utilizing the Stadia.
See article below.
HOTEL BLUES
by CAROL MARTINDALE
HOTELIERS appear to have been dealt a serious bouncer.
The exit of powerhouse teams India and Pakistan from Cricket World Cup 2007, has yorked some hoteliers and left them reeling from the impact of massive cancellations by supporters of those teams.
Michael Poynter, chief operating officer of the Elegant Group of Hotels, which includes Turtle Beach, Colony Club and Crystal Cove, said they had already recorded “substantial” cancellations at all five of their properties.
“We are concerned about reservations for April, especially now India and Pakistan are no longer in,” he said.
He also said they had already reduced hotel rates and had stepped up advertising in Britain and the United States.
Other hoteliers could not tally their losses, but said they were scrambling to fill rooms.
Hotel accounts manager with Cricket Logistics Rachel Church said they were moving swiftly to fill the cancellations.
“With the knock out of India and Pakistan, there has been cancellations especially from the India media, but we are replacing them with other media. Where there have been cancellations we are trying to fill,” she said.
Cricket Logistics was responsible for bookings for big blocks of rooms at hotels.
A hotelier with a luxury South Coast property who requested anonymity, said business was so bad he expected some workers to be laid off from this week.
“April is looking like the worse month for winter,” he said, noting his hotel would not even scrape a 40 per cent occupancy rate.
President of the Barbados Hotel and Tourism Association (BHTA), Alvin Jemmott, said cancellations had driven hotel occupancies below 70 per cent.
He conceded that the exit of India was having a real impact on accommodation. “India has had the largest following of the World Cup. They had the largest request for tickets and accommodation,” he said.
Jemmott, however, said the BHTA and the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA) were doing all they could to reverse the situation.
He said they had launched a major advertising blitz in Ireland, which would now play a Super 8 match in Barbados. They have also turned to the websites to place banner ads with links to Barbados sites.
BTA president Stuart Layne said their attention was now on markets like Ireland and England to maximise the numbers coming in from countries, which are still in the Super 8.
13 Comments
April 1, 2007 at 12:12 pm
[...] Published by Dapp RSS: TourismContinue reading: CRICKET TRAGEDY DIGS DEEPER [...]
April 1, 2007 at 8:19 pm
Barbadians and Caribbean CITIZENS on the whole supported the hosting of CWC 2007.
However, serious concern was expressed by the high level of spending by countries whose economies are subjected to external shock.
Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves and Keith Mitchell expressed early in the planning stages that Caribbean governments should proceed with caution about their spending.
Hoteliers in Jamaica expressed similar concerns re: this anticipated influx of tourists to the region around the CWC 2007.
But here in Barbados….the most HIGH – PRICED destination of the countries hosting the cwc 2007 this BLP Government through the Prime Minister and Minister of Tourism kept PROCLAIMING that :
1. The last week of CWC 2007 90,000 visitors will be in Barbados…despite during our BEST week we only get about 12,000 tourists….!!
2. Kensington Oval MUST be renovated…… when popular and prudent views were that a newer stadium would have being CHEAPER…since there would have been no need to compensate businesses and home owners around Kensington…!!
3. That the room capacity on the island need to INCREASE…thus Poor people FOOLED into borrowing money to improve their housing stock….while the BLP Government enters into a US $ 15 Million deal with Carnival Destiny….!!
So to blame what we now see as the reality on the ground on other factors….such as India and Pakistan being knocked out is bare…..RUBBISH….!!
The BLP government needs to review the points I have expressed above and the many others expressed by other Barbadians…..and ask themselves as a GOVERNMENT…how much did our STUBBORNESS and DECEPTION….NOW threaten the livelihood of those in the hotel industry and the average Barbadians on a whole….??
April 1, 2007 at 9:32 pm
The warning signs and concerns were CLEARLY expressed but due to CRASS political opportunism Owen Arthur and his mendicants IGNORED all and sundry to push their political agenda…!!
So the strategy was to give the notion that Barbados will be awash with visitors to the extent that tourist ships would be needed to accomodate the EXCESS…!!
4 weeks to go , How are things PANNING out…in Barbados….?
1. Hotel staff already being laid – off…!!
2. US $ 15 Million SAILING in Carnival Destiny…bank account…!
3. Cricket grounds around the Caribbean half – empty…including 3W’s warm – up games….!!
4. In light of this…BTA says they TARGETTING the IRISH….watch out Sein FENN…!!
5. Noel Lynch says RELAX….90,000 visitors STILL coming….!
6. Noel Lynch CONVINCES everyone…including William Duguid…who joins BFP site to PREACH the SAME…!
7. Noel Lynch says ONLY 10 Cruise ships coming…with about 2,500 VISITORS each…..and from his CALCULATIONS….this is ABOUT 75,000 Cruise ship PASSENGERS…..yes, New Maths…!!
This is the CWC 2007….LEGACY….of the GREAT ECONOMIST…Owen Arthur…!!
If this is the LEGACY of the GREAT ECONOMIST……then Dr. Estwick…..has ALL reason to be PROUD….!
April 2, 2007 at 9:27 am
Cricket remains the game of ‘glorious uncertainties’ yet the brains behind the staging of CWC have put all their eggs into the Indian, Pakistani baskets.
A competition should see dark horses coming to light, underdogs being the front-runners instead the financial success of CWC was pinned on theses 2 countries advancing to the finals.
This is more than passing strange, notwithstanding target marketing and all…….
April 2, 2007 at 10:45 am
DLP,
Have your shadow Minister of Tourism call for a public clarification from Minister of Tourism on the following:
1. If he says only 10 cruise ships coming with about 2,800 passengers EACH….how he arrived at 75,000 crusie ship passengers coming to Barbados for the last week of CWC 2007…?
2. Did the Government of Barbados borrow US $ 15 Million to secure the services of Carnival Destiny..?
3. By 25th March 2007…was not the INDIA team already out of the CWC 2007…when he stated 90,000 tourist coming to Barbados AND 75,000 CRUIS SHIP passengers also…?
4. Why hotel staff already being laid – off…in Barbados….during the peak of the TOURIST season and CWC 2007…?
Get cracking DLP….1
August 8, 2007 at 9:53 am
Why has customs not collected any money in wharehourse duties. Duty free shops owe the Government $40 million dollars
August 9, 2007 at 3:38 am
Wow iabi are you certain about this being the case.
Are they the duty free shops that are leased out to the Irish concern that is running all the airport shops ?
August 12, 2007 at 2:56 pm
DLP:
I wish you all the best for the upcoming Annual Conference and I would wish that your theme throughout the Conference and thereafter would be “Onward Christian Soldiers”, because that’s what you – the decision makers – will have to be. It ain’t gonna be easy now that we’re winding down to Elections. I would like to think that you could put your heads together and thrash out the reasons why some among the general public are shaking their heads and saying, “No more BLP; no more Owing See-Through; done wid them”, but at the same time are hesitant to vote DLP. In fact, some say they won’t vote at all. To me it doesn’t make sense, and I tell the Doubting Thomases that if they don’t vote, then they WILL be stuck with the drunkard and his gang. I don’t buy the argument that “the Dems ain’t ready”, or “the Dems ain’t together”, we have some first class candidates, but in Barbados it just needs one person to whisper something and it flies around like cow itch. (Chinese whispers). Let us see “victory in the air” emerging from the Conference. All good wishes.
August 12, 2007 at 11:24 pm
I support your call wholeheartily, I to wish them well and trust that they will come out of it ready to carry the battle to the BLP in every nook and cranny of this nation, people are obviously annoyed with the extent of the corrupt acts that are taking place daily in this nation and we need to get them back to the real world of work, lets us help by voting them out and secondly by exposing their corruption to all and sundry by taking them before the courts of this nation.
We need to fight them at every corner, every rum shop, every bus stop, every supermarket, any and everywhere they have a voice we need to be the other voice of honesty and concern.
August 13, 2007 at 3:23 pm
Wishing In Vain,
Dragging them before the courts of this nation won’t be easy to do – in fact, pretty nigh impossible. You think they would leave clues as to their stealing and corruption? They all have their tracks well covered. You would need to bring in the FBI to expose them, and that wouldn’t happen. Its all very well to expose them on these blogs and name names, but let one DLP politician open his/her mouth in public and call a name and straight to the courts they will be going with a law suit for defamation. And the criminals will be laughing all the way to the bank (in the Cayman Islands) with thousands more in their pockets. I think in this case you really are “wishing in vain”, unfortunately.
August 14, 2007 at 8:28 am
Thistle, I know that I am Wishing in Vain on this one but it is a sincere wish that I would love to see fufilled and carried out.
These crooks have raped this country to such an extent that it is hard to believe or trust anything that they say or do.
We need to seriously consider our next vote and where are going with this gang of bastards.
Barbados cannot afford much more of them because at this rate they will break the treasury.
When one considers that Owings financiers are the likes of Rausing, Smith, Paynter, Smurfitt,Weatherhead, Bjerkham, his bank account is sitting pretty as ever so why then still want to rob from us the taxpayers ?
August 14, 2007 at 8:53 am
Bare Joke Thistle.
Of course they can be prosecuted for corruption,stealing public funds etc.
Trinidad which is one of the most ‘litigation crazy’ country in the caribbean,as well as a country where the indian judges and magistrates,and newspapers,t.v and radio as well as indian civil servants – all work together to prevent an ‘influential’ indian from going to jail – even then they couldnot prevent basdeo Panday from being convicted ,and right now he is facing about 4 separate charges.
The important thing is that – THERE IS A PRIME MINISTER ie PATRICK MANNING WHO IS COMMITTED TO BRINGING AN END TO CORRUPT POLITICIANS.
The question here is what will David Thompson do – I know one thing if he wants this country to descend into chaos and rioting – well he can just leave these BLP thieves alone.
We have Trinidad as an example – who brought in a forensic auditor – Bob Linquist (a canadian), who traced every penny of every bank account that every one of Panday corrupt ministers stole – and they are all before the courts – the only thing is they are trying to drag it out (just like CJ Sharma) by calling for postponements and appealing every single thing.
The good thing is when they finally get to the Privy Council – they lose their appeal.
In Barbados we have the CCJ.
The ball is in David Thompson’s court – and whoever he appoints as Attornry General.
August 14, 2007 at 11:44 am
I hope you’re right, but I ain’t holding my breath!