HEMISPHERIC HUB
Dehring: CWI targeting share of booming sports tourism market
Cricket West Indies (CWI) chief executive officer Chris Dehring unveiled an ambitious plan to position the Caribbean as a hemispheric hub for cricket development, centred around a state-of-the-art high-performance facility in Antigua as the regional board targets a share of the sports tourism market.Speaking at CWI’s quarterly press conference yesterday, Dehring said construction on the project is expected to begin this year on a 20-acre site at Coolidge, with advanced plans and funding already in place.
“It is our intention… to establish the Caribbean as the hemispheric hub for cricket in this side of the world,” Dehring said.The facility, which will include cutting-edge training technology, sports science laboratories and recovery amenities, is designed not only for West Indies teams but also to attract international sides seeking elite preparation environments.
“It’s going to be available not just for the West Indies team… but for teams around the world to come here and train and develop,” he added. Dehring explained that the initiative is closely tied to the rapid growth of the global sports tourism industry, which he said was currently valued at approximately US$700 billion and projected to more than double within five years.“The fastest growing segment… is sports tourism,” he noted, highlighting the emergence of high-performance centres as a major commercial asset.
