THOSE interested in finding new ways to spur economic activity would have sat up and taken notice of the recent news that St Elizabeth will host this year’s West Indies Under-15 cricket tournament.

For, this is not just a narrow sports story. It is in fact also about a vision for sports tourism.

It is useful to make the point that this is the first time that a regional cricket tournament being hosted by Jamaica is entirely outside of Kingston. For such tournaments in the past there has never been any doubt that the base is Kingston, even while some games have been played in rural Jamaica.

The difference in this case was that the Jamaica Cricket Association (JCA), urged on by interests in St Elizabeth, came to recognise and believe that the infrastructural capacity existed for southern parish to be hosts.

No praise can be too great for the community group, Breds Foundation in Treasure Beach led by hotelier and community activist, Mr Jason Henzell, for their unswerving commitment to the building of the Treasure Beach Sports Park and Academy. That ground, in large measure, has made St Elizabeth’s hosting of this tournament possible.

Likewise, businessman Mr Manley Horne’s development of a sports facility in Ballards Valley, south-east St Elizabeth, with cricket predominantly in mind, would have been a powerful factor in swaying the JCA.

Those two new grounds, combined with a relatively sound facility at the St Elizabeth Technical High School (STETHS) and the decades-old Alpart Sports Club, which has a history of hosting regional first-class cricket, meant there were four venues deemed suitable for a high-level tournament in St Elizabeth.

Few, if any of our other rural parishes, can boast of that capacity. News that one Under-15 game will now be played in neighbouring Manchester does not detract from St Elizabeth’s achievement.

This newspaper contends that the Henzell-led Breds Foundation and Mr Manley Horne deserve special commendation for their vision in recognising that good sports facilities can bring strong economic spin-offs.

For in basic terms, millions of dollars will be introduced to the St Elizabeth economy as a result of accommodation, transportation, and other services for young cricketers, their support staff, match officials and dignitaries, numbering more than 100, over the two-week period of this tournament.

We are aware that for Mr Henzell, in particular, this is just the start. He has been campaigning for some time with the passion of a religious crusader for St Elizabeth to be viewed as a sports tourism destination. Mr Henzell, hotelier and chairman of St Elizabeth’s parish development committee, believes there is a rich pre-season and holiday market for international sporting teams from age-group and school, to senior level.

That’s nothing novel or new. Our Caribbean neighbour Barbados has long benefitted from precisely that type of sports tourism. Indeed, in decades past English county teams often visited Jamaica, mostly Kingston, during the English winter. That withered away, we suspect, largely because of crime in Kingston and perhaps also the absence of proactive promotion.

However, the opportunities have not disappeared. St Elizabeth is showing the way. Others, including those interests in north western Jamaica where the Trelawny Stadium sits, should follow.