Stadium tours may be on the cards
Stabroek News
December 3, 2006
Members of the public might be provided with an opportunity to see the stadium at Providence, East Bank Demerara even before the first ball for the CWC Super Eight matches is bowled.
According to the Chief Executive Officer of the CWC 2007 Local Organising Committee, Karan Singh, some mechanism for this is being considered.
Some members of the public told Stabroek News that they would be interested in seeing what the stadium looks like after all the publicity it has been getting in recent years. They said that as a national facility it should be opened to the public if only for viewing.
National hockey player and businessman Aderemi Simon told the Stabroek News that a lot of people are interested in seeing what the stadium looks like. He feels that lots of Guyanese, especially the average person would not go to the matches because of the relatively high prices for the CWC matches. Even though the prices for tickets range from US$25 to US$100, he said, "the long and short of it is that the majority of Guyanese and cricket loving people consider US$25 which is now little over $5,000 expensive by Guyanese standards and would prefer to spend their money on something else and still enjoy the matches at home."
He suggested that it would be good if the LOC gave guided tours "even if it is to cover the overhead for providing the guiding. Maybe the LOC could also use the volunteers for this purpose."
Tourism consultant Shyam Nokta does not think it is necessary that those who bought tickets for the matches should be given a tour of the stadium before the matches. Once systems are in place he feels that all should go well. "Not because you buy a ticket, you should tour the stadium before," he said noting that it could be more taxing on the organizers.
He, however, noted that there would be trial matches to test the pitches and it should be opened to spectators. "Maybe, a fee to see the trial matches should be charged," he suggested.
In addition, he said, there should be an occasion to test the facilities and members of the public could be invited to tour the stadium. (Miranda La Rose)