BRIDGETOWN, Barbados (CMC):

The Opposition Democratic Labour Party (DLP) on Saturday questioned a decision by the government to spend US$15 million to lease a cruise ship to house visitors during the ICC Cricket World Cup next year.

State media reported that the DLP leader, David Thompson, questioned whether the benefits of bringing the cruise liner here to help accommodate World Cup visitors justify the costs.

Thompson suggested that the move could have a detrimental impact on local hotels.

"We've received some recent statistics that suggest to us that a lot of the packages are so expensive that the numbers that they were expecting in respect of the World Cup are not matching up," Thompson said. "So you may find that Barbadian hotels are empty, but that the Carnival Destiny is full."

The Barbados Tourism Authority is spearheading the move to lease the ship from Carnival Cruise Line.

Thumbs up for SVG

KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent (CMC):

St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) has been given high commendation for its operations at the E.T. Joshua Airport and the construction at the main Arnos Vale stadium as it prepares to host warm-up matches in Cricket World Cup (CWC) 2007.

CWC 2007 Inc. CEO and Managing Director, Chris Dehring, and Venue Development Director, Don Lockerbie, were generally very pleased at the conclusion of Friday''s meticulous inspection by International Cricket Council (ICC) personnel on the island's preparation for cricket's showpiece tournament.

The inspection team - comprising the main stakeholders of next year's event, including cricket operations consultants and venue development consultants - carried out inspections of the main stadium, Arnos Vale, as well as the Sion Hill and Stubbs playing fields, which are earmarked as training grounds.