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I m sure we all remember the amazingly cheesy Venga boys song, ‘My Uncle John from Jamaica!’ that was a chart topping hit in the mid 90′s. It had ravers pumping and dancers toe tapping! It also switched many people on to going on holiday to Jamaica, the fantastic tropical paradise.

Jamaica holidays and Barbados holidays have been very popular amongst Brits for many years now, due to their spectacular natural beauty, amazing warm sunny climate and chilled out reggae vibes. Jamaica in particular, is immensely popular with over one million visitors from the UK each year due to its famous reputation for sun, music, good food and of course the legendary Bob Marley!

Jamaica is the largest island in the Caribbean Sea and has a magnificently diverse terrain from long stenches of white sandy beaches lined with coconut filled palm trees, to towering mountains and large expanses of countryside for you to roam around in. Whilst on holiday here you should most definitely take a look at one of Jamaica’s most famous towns Montego Bay. It has a wealth of shops, cafes, bars and historical sites to keep you entertained and thrilled for hours on end. One such masterpiece is The ‘Rose Hall Great House’, which is a superb building that has been restored from the late eighteenth century. Legend has it that the ‘White Witch’ of Jamaica or Annie Palmer, as she was more formerly known, actually still roams her Manor in the form of a tormented ghost. When Miss Annie Palmer was alive she apparently killed all five of her husband’s and brutalised many of her slaves, and eventually was murdered herself by an unknown member of staff. Don’t let this put you off as it is an amazing island and nothing like this happens anymore!

Antigua Holidays are also a top UK holiday destination because of its breath taking beaches, abundance of activities and it is amazingly affordable. So, for your next holiday definitely get yourself over to one of the Caribbean Islands for the best holiday of your life!

The last three months have been very hectic for the Caribbean Island of Barbados and Antigua. Only in November last year were the confirmed as the successful bidders to host the 2011 Caribbean Twenty20 Cricket tournament. This doubtlessly caused the fevered fan-lead booking of thousands of Antigua holidays. But with the tournament rescheduled for January, the turnaround must have put an inordinate level of strain on the participant teams and of course, the organisers. Last year, the inaugural Caribbean Twenty20 tournament was held in July.

The Twenty20 calender is busy, and moving the tournament to the beginning of the year has done wonders for defining its identity. Moving the tournament also meant that the substantial weather problems experienced in the 2010 tournament were unlikely to be repeated. Three were entirely abandoned due to heavy rain and further three were cut short for the same reasons. There has been a noticeably higher success rate with matches in January, but one match held on the 18th (Jamaica and Somerset) ran for only six overs per side. The result prematurely and slightly controversially put Somerset out of the tournament, cutting short their Barbados holidays.

The Caribbean Twenty20 tournament is considered important enough to feed into the Champions League of Twenty20 cricket. The tournament was rescheduled to make it fit more easily into the Twenty20 Champion’s league run up. The schedule in 2010 gave less than two months for the winner of the Caribbean tournament to prepare for the Champion’s League. Arguably, this is why Guyana crashed out of the later in the group stages.

Despite this drawback, the Caribbean tournament has been a fantastic ambassador for the sport. Twenty20 cricket has proved itself to be a valid new direction for the relatively inaccessible sport of cricket, even though at an average four hours it still hasn’t been pared down to the size of the most internationally popular team sports. It will be very interesting to see where Twenty20 can take Cricket from here on. I personally want to go on Vietnam holidays if there’s anyone out there who wants to get the Vietnamese into Cricket.

Sport tourism will give Antigua and Barbados an economic boost at the beginning of the next year with the news that the second annual Caribbean Twenty20 Cricket Tournament will be held in the sunny island nations. Some of the greatest players in the West Indies will be playing in the tournament, with guests from Hampshire and Somerset in England ensuring international interest. But if you want to have what will prove to be one of your favourite ever all inclusive holidays, time is running out! Antigua holidays will cover the qualifying stages between January 10th and 15th. Between January 18th and 23rd Barbados will be the place to be for the conclusion.

Established in the 2010 season, the Caribbean Twenty20 Tournament was established due to concerns about waning youth participation and interest. International, Twenty20 has been adopted for mostly the same reasons. Its shorter format makes it a more appealing spectator sport, with a three and a half hour running time being more akin to other short-form sports. The Caribbean is one of the great Cricketing homelands, but its rich history of famous Cricketers hasn’t stopped the decline. Cricket is the national sport of both Antigua and Barbados and is very much a cornerstone of the culture on both islands. The Caribbean would be a fine place to see a Twenty20 match. Though it is probably worth observing how few people would be inclined to moan at the long-form of Cricket played out under a tropical sun!

Twenty20 is, however, a great compromise between seeing a bit of sport and taking in the other fine aspects of the islands. There is a lot to be said for splitting your Barbados holidays with a day of sport (perhaps the finals, for a sneak peak at the time that will be flying out to the Twenty20 Champions’ League). Cricket is just the bonus of course: All the sun, sea and surf you can ever want await you in the premier Caribbean locations of Antigua and Barbados.