CPL gives major boost to Guyana’s tourism sector

…as City hotels report massive increase in bookings

The Hero Caribbean Premier League (CPL) cricket tournament could be described as a gift that keeps on giving as several hotels in Guyana’s capital city; Georgetown are reporting a massive increase in bookings this week. This revelation has signaled that the local economy is slated to attain an additional boost due to the increases.
The Guyana Times International understands that both large and smaller establishments are booked for this weekend as thousands of Guyanese witness home team, the Guyana Amazon Warriors take on their rivals in four exhilarating T20 matches.

Reliable information reaching this publication revealed that the well-known establishments like the Ramada Princess Hotel, Duke Lodge and Regency Suites Hotel are fully booked at least up to Monday, while Regency was said to not have any extra accommodation for the next 6 days. The Guyana Marriott Hotel still has rooms available but the general consensus is that, increases were recorded.
The nexus has been drawn that these increases fall in line with the Guyana leg of the CPL games which conclude this Tuesday. The six teams contesting this year’s tournament are the Guyana Amazon Warriors, Jamaica Tallawahs, Trinbago Knight Riders, Barbados Tridents, St Lucia Stars and St Kitts and Nevis Patriots.
As reported, the CPL games have added significantly to the Guyanese economy over the years. In 2016, some US$17 million was added to Guyana’s economy. This net sum had been calculated by assessing the influx of tourists to the country, hotel bookings, vending during the games, and the overall spending of persons during this period.
This newspaper had also noted last year that around US$90 million was poured into the entire Caribbean region in 2016 as a result of the CPL tournaments. United Kingdom-based research firm, SMG Insight/YouGov had carried a study on the tournament which indicated that the event generated US$102 million across all seven host venues.
St Kitts was last year’s biggest recipients with US$22.7 million (EC61.2 million) injected into its economy, while Barbados, recorded am economic boost of nearly US$16 million (BDS$32 million). The Barbados Tourist Board’s shirt sponsorship deal with the Tridents franchise had managed to generate US$7.7 million in media value – representing a 128 per cent increase over the 2015 numbers. Trinidad and Tobago had also benefited recording some US$14 million (TT$93.6 million) from the CPL though total visitor spending had declined some 25 per cent over 2015’s figure to US$2.9 million. St Lucia, which witnessed St Lucia Zouks reaching the playoffs for the first time, saw US$10.8 million flowing into its economy with visitor spending and media value also rising significantly over last year.