Year of Sports 2017 Kicks off with Barbados Surf Pro
Already 138 men and 52 women have registered for the upcoming inaugural Barbados Surf Pro. The event is the first of its kind for the island, and launches the Barbados Year of Sports 2017. Scheduled to run from April 11 to 16 at Drill Hall beach in St. Michael, hundreds are expected to flock to the island’s shores for the highly-anticipated competition.
CEO of the Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc. (BTMI), William ‘Billy’ Griffith, said Barbados is privileged to be hosting the Surf Pro, adding that his team has high hopes for event, extending beyond the scope of the surfing community. “The Surf Pro is a monumental event for sports in Barbados. This is the first time the country will host a men’s and women’s Qualifying Series, and it comes at a key time when we are focusing on the development and promotion of Barbados as a sporting destination. We expect that the quality of such a landmark event will be a draw not only for surfing enthusiasts, but sports lovers alike.”
Contest organizers Christopher Clarke and Louis Venezia, share the BTMI’s confidence that the event will be a success for the wider sporting community. “Barbados has been waiting for an event of this magnitude since the inception of competitive surfing’s beginnings,” Clarke said. “Having it be a men’s and women’s qualifying event will showcase our surfers against some of the world’s best.”
Patrons can expect to witness some of the best international surfers, as well as local pros Chelsea Tuach and Josh Burke. “I’ve been waiting for a QS to happen at home all my surfing career,” Burke said. “[It] should be a very fun QS, especially if a solid swell moves through — ‘Brandends’ will be an instant hit. It’s also inspiring for all the local kids to watch the QS tour surfers from around the world surf their home break, teaching them lots while making them look at the wave differently. Every surfer [coming here] is top class and in addition hungry for a win.”
From the seas to the greens
As the Year of Sports 2017 gets swiftly underway, the BTMI is already looking ahead to the next event on its calendar, the Sir Garfield Sobers Festival of Golf. Slated for April 27 to 30, the well-established tournament invites participants to tee-off across four of the island’s diverse courses, Royal Westmoreland, the Sandy Lane Country Club, Apes Hill Club, and the Barbados Golf Club. Registration for the tournament has already started and entries are open to Men, Women, Seniors and Super Seniors.
The Year of Sports will continue until December, featuring a blend of established calendar favourites, and new, carefully crafted events, covering interests from water sports to cricket and beach tennis. Speaking at the press launch for the Year of Sports, Griffith confirmed that sports tourism will be integrated into the BTMI’s marketing strategy going forward, as he believes there is a lot of untapped potential within this niche that could contribute significantly to the industry’s growth.
“The Year of Sports initiative is the result of months of research, including talks with our industry partners about the feedback they receive directly from these markets. And what we found was that Barbados has several sporting avenues that are not being exploited. They are established, they are already here. Visitors are already coming to either participate in or follow sporting activities such as cricket, surfing, golf… but this is happening in little silos across the island. We realized, rather quickly, that it was important for us, as the marketing arm of the Barbados tourism product, to unify all of these sporting activities; neatly package them in a way that’s attractive to potential visitors; and brand it,” Griffith said.
