BARBADOS' SPORTS TOURISM is alive.

But there's still room for improvement.

So says Gregory Armstrong, sports manager of the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA), in light of the recent criticisms levelled at the local industry.

Speaking to members of the Press during yesterday's launch of the Powerade Run Barbados Series at the BTA's headquarters, Armstrong said the country was doing well to attract several touring teams over other favoured destinations.

"We're bringing in excess of 40 000 people here a year to participate in various sports and that in itself is a tremendous accomplishment," said Armstrong.

"When you think that Yorkshire, Lancashire and Essex have confirmed to come to play in Barbados next year, [and we're] competing against nations such as Dubai, Australia and South Africa, then I think we would have done a tremendous job in demonstrating to them that we do have the adequate facilities.

"That alone speaks volumes in my opinion," he said.

Armstrong's comments came in response to director of tour sales and operations at Harvard Sports Management, Joe Totman, who said his company had challenges bringing tours to Barbados while speaking at the BTA's second National Sports Tourism Seminar earlier this week.

Totman advanced that Barbados was one of the only countries in the world where time, dates, and the number of assigned games weren't actually verified before the arrival of the respective touring team.

In spite of these claims though, Armstrong believes that Barbados has still proven itself to be a world-class destination for particular sporting events.

"When you look around, there's the complete package here," said Armstrong.

"It's the facilities, it's the people, it's the total package that makes Barbados a winner."

However, the former national cricketer did agree with Totman in saying that there was a lack of professionalism in certain stakeholders that is preventing Barbados from developing further as a major international sporting venue.

"By no means have we reached our peak, because when you think about it you still need to have all our people on the ground present themselves professionally," Armstrong said.

"We have to get everyone to understand what our priorities are before we look at our facilities, and when you start to present yourself professionally then you begin to create the demand for people to come here, and by creating the demand you begin to create the demand for people to build the infrastructure to make it first class.