Bahamas counting on sports to aid Hurricane Dorian recovery efforts
PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — Any concern about whether it was appropriate to be playing sports in the Bahamas while parts of the multi-island nation continue to dig out from devastation following Hurricane Dorian are quickly dismissed by officials.
Bahamians not only want the games, they’re counting on them.
One of those events is the Thanksgiving-week Battle 4 Atlantis men’s college basketball tournament — during which there will be broadcasts of the islands’ famous beaches and not just shots of the wreckage Dorian left behind.
“What has happened is after the storm, the word went out that the Bahamas is devastated,” said Ellison “Tommy” Thompson, deputy director general of the Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Aviation. “But they were not taking into account that the Bahamas is not one island.”
Tourism officials have gone on an “educational tour” that includes easing concerns visitors might have about appearing insensitive by vacationing here.
“Persons have voiced that,” Thompson said. “But we tell them that the best thing you can to help us is we need you to come down and spend the tourism dollars for us to be able to have funds for reconstruction.”
Participants in the sporting events — including the eight-team Atlantis tournament opening Wednesday featuring No. 6 North Carolina, No. 8 Gonzaga, No. 11 Oregon and No. 13 Seton Hall — are assisting recovery efforts. That includes UNC senior Brandon Robinson leading a donation drive and Seton Hall raising money for Bahamian relief efforts.
“I think us and these teams going down there, they’ll bring light to the situation that the Bahamas still needs help,” Robinson said in a recent interview with The Associated Press.
The Category 5 storm hammered the northern Abaco and Grand Bahama islands in September before giving a glancing blow to the southeastern United States. There were 67 confirmed deaths and 282 people still missing as of late October along with $3.4 billion in losses for the Bahamas, according to a recent report.
Dorian also impacted the tourism industry, which fuels the economy of a country with about 700 islands — some within 100 miles of the Florida coast. It is estimated tourism represents 50% of the country’s GDP with 6 of 10 jobs tied to tourism in a country of fewer than 400,000 people. Thompson said major tourism areas were “not touched and open for business,” including the Nassau capital and the Paradise Island home to the Atlantis resort hosting the tournament. Yet Thompson said international arrivals fell 7.4% in September compared to September 2018, the year’s first decline. Declines were sharper for “leading” markets like the U.S. (12.5%) and Canada (15.3%).
That’s where sporting events can help. The Battle 4 Atlantis is one of the premier events on college basketball’s early schedule and Thompson estimates it attracts 8,000 visitors and $3 million in economic impact through lodging, meals, shopping and activities.
Other U.S. college events include the four-team men’s Junkanoo Jam (which ended Sunday) and this week’s women’s events: an eight-team Junkanoo tournament in Bimini and the fiveteam Bahamas Hoopfest in Nassau.
There’s even a college football game: the Bahamas Bowl, played Dec. 20 in the 15,000-seat Thomas A. Robinson National Stadium in Nassau.
Beyond college sports, Tiger Woods hosts the Hero World Challenge (early December) in Albany with a field featuring Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose. There are two January events on the PGA Tour’s developmental Korn Ferry Tour there, though the Great Abaco Classic has relocated to Nassau.