BASSETERRE, St. Kitts, CMC- Caribbean Premier League (CPL) matches played at Warner Park this year created an economic impact of over US20 million dollars for St. Kitts and Nevis, the government reported on Tuesday.
The government in Basseterre is also reporting that the CPL organization also increased its direct operational spend in the local economy by 2.4 percent to US 1.36 million this year generating 243 jobs.
A government statement says the figures have been independently verified and are contained in an independent study carried out by SMA Insight.
“Undoubtedly, the hosting of CPL games in St. Kitts and Nevis continues to yield positive gains for our beautiful twin island federation. These gains extend to our economy, the development of our local cricketing talent, our sporting facilities and the development of our human resource capital,” said Sports Minister Shawn Richards.
“We are indeed happy with the partnership with CPL and even more so elated with the fact that our own franchise, the SKN Patriots, though the newest team, performed creditably well. As such, we look forward to the upcoming CPL games with greater expectations from the SKN Patriots and the benefits to St. Kitts and Nevis.”
The Government says the report showed a total incremental expenditure by spectators and tourists of almost US 4 million dollars this year.
This, it says, has resulted in occupancy of 4,461 hotel room nights on the twin islands, an increase of 39 percent on the previous year’s figure.
“The Government and franchise owners in St. Kitts and Nevis have shown fantastic commitment to CPL and we are delighted to see such a positive economic impact being delivered to both St. Kitts and Nevis. 2015 was a watershed year; with the launch of the St. Kitts and Nevis Patriots team,” said Pete Russell, COO of CPL.
“We have already seen some exciting future plans for both Warner Park and the Patriots team and we have no doubt that we will see a packed Warner Park Stadium when the 2016 Tournament gets underway in June next year”.
