The Tribune

The Ministry of Tourism believes that hosting the NBA champion Miami Heat for a pre-season training camp will help “take the Bahamas global’ when it comes to sports tourism.

Greg Rolle, the Ministry’s director of sports tourism, said: “One of the things that the Minister of Tourism has given me is the directive to bring in high-end tourists to the country.

“And we start the process of basically showing the world that we want to take the Bahamas global in the sports tourist industry.”

Mr Rolle added although the economic value from the Miami Heat’s visit was great, there is a social component and the Ministry of Tourism wants to focus on the elite tournaments and games and that are going to translate into bringing in smaller events here.

“Think about how the Miami Heat comes here; they now have the reach that takes the Bahamas global (in terms of sports tourism). Everyone is going to know about the Bahamas,” he said.

“The Bahamas has been working with the Miami Heat in terms of trying to get them to come to the Bahamas. When you look at it, the Bahamas is only 46 miles off the Florida coast. No better neighbour the Bahamas could be than to bring the Miami Heat to the Bahamas. We did that by basically reaching out to them and said we would like to be your partner in terms of sports,” Mr Rolle added.

:We got together and created a comprehensive plan that shows two things; one, co-branding, and two, business development. We want Miami Heat to drive their fan base to the destination.”

The Ministry of Tourism spends an estimated $25 million in advertising the Bahamas around the world. “But with the Miami Heat training camp that was done with zero dollars,” Mr Rolle said.