Press release
08 Jun 2009
Barbados
Barbados Advocate
IOM / BSA Delegation - June 8th, 2009
Barbados to host World Sailing Championships
Business Monday - The Barbados Advocate - Monday 8th June, 2009
Barbados will once again distinguish itself as the Caribbean’s premier venue for world-class events when the Barbados Sailing Association hosts the 2009 International One Metre (IOM) World Championship from June 20-27, 2009.
During the official media launch at Wispers Restaurant on Wednesday June 3, planning committee members, Senator Peter Gilkes, who is also a board member at the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA), expressed his satisfaction with the tremendous confidence that the international community has in Barbados’ ability to produce high quality, first-class events.
“Recently, we held an event which attracted people from the international sailing community, who came and saw and realised that Barbados has great sailing conditions and organisational skills.
“We submitted a bid to host this championship and in December 2008 we were given the event. Most countries are given two years to plan, but our confirmation came with a lot less time to secure sponsorship and so in.”
Sponsors include the Barbados Tourism Authourity (BTA), The Boatyard, Digicel, Terra Caribbean, Mount Gay Distilleries, Little Good Harbour and Cool Runnings Catamaran Cruises. Stoute’s Care Rentals, Virgin Atlantic and several hotels have also given special concessions to the visiting IOM sailors and their families.
Senator Gilkes added that as a result of securing this IOM event, Barbados has been offered the chance to host a prestigious international regatta. “We’ve been approached by Fireball World, which usually attracts some 100 boats and the spin offs again are many.”
This event has been known to run for approximately two weeks and during such time participants can inject several thousands of dollars into the host country. President and CEO of the BTA, David M. Rice, who also participated in the press briefing, endorsed the effort as a creative and important initiative within the island’s sports tourism portfolio.
“This event really demonstrates the amount of variety in our sports tourism niche. In the short time that I’ve been here on the island the Senator has provided so many ideas and it is good to know that we are not concerned with just a few activities. “We expect this event to attract hundreds of people and that it will generate positive word of mouth, the results of which may very well continue to manifest two or three years down the road.”
Peter Marshall, who is also a member of the Barbados planning committee for the IOM, confirmed that the event will have several positive tourism spin-offs, including media exposure. He stated that, in addition to the 69 competitors representing 15 countries from around the world, who have already registered, there will be 14 international judges, and these are all expected to travel with their partners, friends and families. They will be joined by Barbados’ team of competing sailors: Peter Allen, Chris Durant, Tony Gonsalves, Dane Maingot and Doc Hoyos.
For the first time in the history of the event there will also be live streaming at the official website, www.sailbarbados.com, where sailing enthusiasts and media representatives will be able to access frequent updates on the scores and images from the event.
Barbados will once again distinguish itself as the Caribbean’s premier venue for world-class events when the Barbados Sailing Association hosts the 2009 International One Metre (IOM) World Championship from June 20-27, 2009.
During the official media launch at Wispers Restaurant on Wednesday June 3, planning committee members, Senator Peter Gilkes, who is also a board member at the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA), expressed his satisfaction with the tremendous confidence that the international community has in Barbados’ ability to produce high quality, first-class events.
“Recently, we held an event which attracted people from the international sailing community, who came and saw and realised that Barbados has great sailing conditions and organisational skills.
“We submitted a bid to host this championship and in December 2008 we were given the event. Most countries are given two years to plan, but our confirmation came with a lot less time to secure sponsorship and so in.”
Sponsors include the Barbados Tourism Authourity (BTA), The Boatyard, Digicel, Terra Caribbean, Mount Gay Distilleries, Little Good Harbour and Cool Runnings Catamaran Cruises. Stoute’s Care Rentals, Virgin Atlantic and several hotels have also given special concessions to the visiting IOM sailors and their families.
Senator Gilkes added that as a result of securing this IOM event, Barbados has been offered the chance to host a prestigious international regatta. “We’ve been approached by Fireball World, which usually attracts some 100 boats and the spin offs again are many.”
This event has been known to run for approximately two weeks and during such time participants can inject several thousands of dollars into the host country. President and CEO of the BTA, David M. Rice, who also participated in the press briefing, endorsed the effort as a creative and important initiative within the island’s sports tourism portfolio.
“This event really demonstrates the amount of variety in our sports tourism niche. In the short time that I’ve been here on the island the Senator has provided so many ideas and it is good to know that we are not concerned with just a few activities. “We expect this event to attract hundreds of people and that it will generate positive word of mouth, the results of which may very well continue to manifest two or three years down the road.”
Peter Marshall, who is also a member of the Barbados planning committee for the IOM, confirmed that the event will have several positive tourism spin-offs, including media exposure. He stated that, in addition to the 69 competitors representing 15 countries from around the world, who have already registered, there will be 14 international judges, and these are all expected to travel with their partners, friends and families. They will be joined by Barbados’ team of competing sailors: Peter Allen, Chris Durant, Tony Gonsalves, Dane Maingot and Doc Hoyos.
For the first time in the history of the event there will also be live streaming at the official website, www.sailbarbados.com, where sailing enthusiasts and media representatives will be able to access frequent updates on the scores and images from the event.
