Travel costs mount up for Aland

Wednesday 3rd December 2008, 2:30PM GMT.

NEXT year’s NatWest Island Games in Aland are set to be the most expensive yet for Guernsey’s competitors.

Roughly 290 of the island’s sportsmen and women are expected to attend the week-long biennial event, which is being held in the Baltic island from 26 June to 4 July 2009.

It is estimated that the travel and accommodation will cost up to £900, which is significantly up on the last two Games in Rhodes and the Shetland Islands.

That could see the number of participants from the island drop dramatically.

The Guernsey Island Games Association’s head of travel and accommodation, Jeff Vidamour (pictured), declined to comment yesterday on the costs, saying, ‘It’s yet to be finalised’.

Things do not look to get any cheaper when in Aland, which is a Swedish-speaking province of Finland.