Distinguished guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
Good evening!
I’m pleased to be here with you as we celebrate the return of the Bahamas Bowl after a yearlong hiatus.
As an avid sports fan, I have to say I’m especially pleased we’ve brought it back.
It is known that I have a soft spot for baseball, but the truth is that I have a love for many different sports, including American Football. It is always a joy to watch athletes compete at the highest levels.
I also appreciate the important lifelong values that sports instill in us – values like diligence, teamwork, and graciousness. These are important things to learn, and to practise, from a young age.
Sports encourage our youth to set goals, sharpen skills, and develop resilience.
Sports are important for both physical and mental well-being, and they provide a tremendous sense of accomplishment, especially when we reap the fruits of our labour. And while wins can be especially rewarding, sports also teach us about the lessons in our losses and how to dust ourselves off and try again and again.
Sports are also a conduit for connection.
It is through athletic endeavours that many of us, even in this very room, have forged lifelong relationships.
Sports help us to build connections across communities and countries – and the Bahamas Bowl is a testament to that fact.
This event has experienced great success in the past, and we are excited to get that momentum going again.
The Bahamas Bowl champions athletic camaraderie while drawing visitors from around the world to witness young athletes at the height of their craft, as well as the dazzling beauty of our islands and our warm Bahamian hospitality.
Coming off a successful hosting of the World Athletic Relays, as well as CARIFTA Aquatics, The Bahamas is well-positioned to further diversify its best-in-class tourism product by embracing winning opportunities in sports tourism. In fact, this year, we won the World Travel Award for Caribbean Sports Tourism – a testament to the progress we’ve made on our vision to make our nation the sports tourism hub of the region.
The economic value of sports tourism extends beyond visitor spending. It creates new career pathways, opens up new markets for local businesses, and fosters new partnerships that promise to support national development.
To that end, we must continue to invest in world-class sporting facilities.
We’ve recently opened a new gymnasium in South Andros. It’s a big, multi-purpose facility, well-equipped to host international sporting events.
We also have a world-class swimming complex planned for Grand Bahama that will be capable of hosting international swimming meets.
As a nation of islands, each with its unique appeal and potential, The Bahamas stands to gain immensely from a development agenda that empowers all islands. Ramping up sports tourism is just one of the many ways we’re expanding opportunities for Bahamians, regardless of where they reside.
We have something special here in The Bahamas, and we’re always delighted when the global community comes to our shores to experience it.
I look forward to the success of this latest Bahamas Bowl.
Let us raise our glasses to another big win: for sports tourism, for The Bahamas, for our friends and partners, and for our athletes.
Thank you, and may you have a wonderful evening!