#BTEditorial – English cricket fans great for sport, economy

The importance of sports and entertainment to the Barbados economy has not been more evident than in the current International Test Cricket match taking place at Kensington Oval between England and the West Indies.

The famed cricket ground on the outskirts of Bridgetown has been turned into the adult playground for thousands of British cricket-loving fans, who took the opportunity to not only follow their national team to the Caribbean but to enjoy a get-away to one of the most idyllic places on earth.

The English love their cricket, and their travelling band of followers dubbed the ‘Barmy Army’, are known for their fervent support of their cricketing sportsmen wherever they tour.

For some time, other sporting bodies have grumbled about the level of financial and policy support given to the game of cricket, when compared to what they receive. While we understand that sports such as car racing, football, volleyball and even athletics are very popular, none has brought this country more international appeal, financial and economic gain, or recognition as cricket has done.

There is no need to mention the global appeal and stature of our cricketing greats such as our living national hero Sir Garfield Sobers, and the long list of other icons such as Sir Frank Worrell, Sir Everton Weekes and Sir Clyde Walcott, Sir Gordon Greenidge, Desmond Haynes, Malcolm Marshall, Joel Garner, Sir Wes Hall, and the more recent vintage such as Jason Holder.

But as we debate the enormous value of sports and entertainment to our economy, there is little doubt that cricket ranks fairly high in the hierarchy of  economic importance.

Two years of economic slump, occasioned by the COVID-19 pandemic resulted in a near collapse of tourism, the key engine of our economy.

And so, with the lifting of many of the COVID-19 mitigation measures, it was no surprise that the sport provided a much-desired fillip when many of the other projects needed to rekindle the economy required much time to effect.

It is difficult to be precise about the total economic value of the presence of thousands of cricket fans on the island for the five-day test match, however, we will not reject the suggested figure of  possibly US$50 million by a top Cricket West Indies (CWI) official.

Approximately 10 000 British fans have descended on the island and officials in the tourism and retail sectors, as well as the Ministry of Finance must be smiling broadly.

Johnny Grave, the chief executive officer of CWI told the media, “This will be bigger than 2019 when the impact was 100 million Barbados dollars. The prime reason for travel is tourism. In terms of coming here, it is about the cricket.

“I’m sure they love this holiday and with over 8 000 people here for the week, spending thousands of dollars, the economic impact is enormous and that’s not even including the millions of people around the world who are watching and Barbados tourism officials giving us advertisements to put on television.”

The images from live broadcasts of the match paint a picture of guests who were thoroughly pleased not only with the game that is unfolding, but the entire atmosphere created for them at the cricket ground, and the ambience of the host nation.

We know that English fans will follow their cricketers, but we suspect that a trip to Barbados provided significant added value for the Barmy Army.

The first test in Antigua and Barbuda attracted approximately 5,000 British fans to the drawn opener from March 8 to 12. However, for the match at Kensington Oval that number doubled, and that is quite telling.

On the south coast, in particular, hotel rooms are filled, bars and restaurants are overflowing, taxi drivers are pleased, and vendors on the streets and on the beaches are overjoyed at the increase in business.

For an economy that has been operating on significant amounts of borrowed money over the last two years, the foreign exchange generated from this sporting event alone will have a ripple effect throughout the economy.

As CEO of Cricket West Indies contended, “[The English cricket fans are] a much-needed boost to West Indies cricket, Barbados and the whole region. We are promoting and marketing Barbados to millions of cricket fans around the world.

“Hopefully, they will be here for a few more days to spend their hard-earned English pounds in the bars and restaurants in Barbados.”

We fully understand that some cricket fans prefer to see more West Indian support at Kensington Oval, however, we certainly are not saddened by the packed stands filled with the English team’s fun-loving fans.