Sports Tourism is now being emphasised as an important element in promoting Anguilla in the market place and, according to Parliamentary Secretary, the Hon Haydn Hughes, this new initiative is about to take off.
“We have several world class athletes, and several times I have been asked at some of the tourism conferences why sports and tourism are not inter-linked in Anguilla,” Mr Hughes told the local media. “This is especially now that we have Shara Proctor on the international scene; and now Zharnel Hughes who is doing a tremendous job in the region – having won three consecutive gold medals.
“One of the things we have been lacking for too long is that of an athletic track. I have committed myself, that before the end of this government’s term, to have a track in Anguilla so that our athletes – not only those already established but those coming up – can be encouraged and professionally trained. It means that when they [the new athletes] go overseas they too will be able to perform at their optimum. The track will also provide a number of opportunities for visiting athletes—not only from neighbouring islandsbut, from around the world, especially Europe in our link to the United Kingdom, through Shara Proctor – to come to Anguilla to train during the warm weatherhere. This is because at certain times of the year they cannot do any outdoor training in those jurisdictions due to the [cold] weather there. So Anguilla will afford them an opportunity to come here and, when they do so, they will also enjoy all the niceties we have – and this will be a promotion for Anguilla.”
Mr Hughes continued: “We will use sports as a vehicle to attract athletes and other visitors to Anguilla. We have the FIFA-sponsored football stadium, for example, which is a great facility and which can also be used for athletic training. In addition, we have a number of fitness centres and everybody in Anguilla knows that sports and fitness are something that I have been involved in all my life. I too ran in the track and field Carifta Games for Anguilla, and at one point I held the junior half-marathon record, and the high school junior and senior road race records, along with the 1500m record. I have also co-sponsored a number of events for the last twenty years.
“Now that we have tourism and sports linked, I will be working with a number of entities. They include the Anguilla Bodybuilding and Fitness Federation and the Anguilla Cycling Federation. They have a dynamic young president in the person of Miguel Leveret who will be doing a tremendous job. He is also putting on the John TMemorial Cycling Race coming up shortly – and that race is the brainchild of the Hon Evan Gumbs who has been an avid cyclist. We are going to see how we can also partner or reach out to entities such as ESPN to see if we can have coverage for the John T Memorial Race, boat-racing and so forth. That will also promote Anguilla around the world and give more visibility to the island. We have discussed these initiatives before and now we have a clear path for them to materialise.”
Mr. Hughes said he would also be working diligently towards the provision of an indoor sports facility.“This and other facilities will offer us numerous opportunities which will be realised. I have full confidence that we will not only be able to marry sports and tourism, but will also be able to develop more athletes who can represent Anguilla abroad. That is what we are here for: to develop and promote sports tourism. I believe that the opportunities out there are immense.”
Mr Hughes said Anguilla had the potential to be a great sporting island. “Once we continue to do what we are doing on the international scene with such Anguillian athletes like Shara Proctor, Zharnel Hughes, Chesney Hughes and Rechelle Meade, I believe there will be many opportunities for many more athletes to go off to university.”
The Parliamentary Secretary added: “I have been able to acquire a significant rolodex of sporting personalities around the world through Ms MarvoBritto who is the publicist for a number of those personalities not only in the United States, but around the world. I have spoken to a number of them and you will see some tangible results in Anguilla over the coming months and into next year.”
