St. John's (Antigua), Sep 17 (IANS): England's Test tour of the Caribbean earlier this year proved a financial success, grossing $73.2 million across the region, the West Indies Cricket Board has announced.

The WICB on Wednesday said the result of an Economic Impact Assessment had shown that the three Tests, which were played between April 13 and May 3, had realised a real "economic impact" of $59.8 million, reports CMC.

"The key outcomes of the Economic Impact Assessment which was conducted during the England Tour of the Caribbean earlier this year revealed that the region, as a whole, largely benefitted from hosting the three Tests," the WICB said.

"The study revealed that generated gross expenditure related to the Tour was approximately $73.2 million, of which the economic impact was US $59.8 million or 82 per cent of the generated gross expenditure. The lion's share of this impact was driven by the spectators' spend, i.e. $50.1 million."

According to the report, the tour also pulled in 15,660 unique visitors, including 3,150 who used tour packages.

In an analysis of the West Indies as an advertising brand, the report showed that there were "1,477 verbal mentions of West Indies as a 'brand' counted, generating a media value of $1.1 million."

The report also showed that of the host venues for the Tests, Antigua received the largest amount of brand exposure with 40 per cent while Grenada gained 39 percent.

However, the Barbados Test which ended in three days gained only 21 percent.

The England tour historically has been the most lucrative Home Series for the region, with large numbers of visitors making the trek to the Caribbean - mostly from the United Kingdom.

Again this year, all three Tests were well subscribed as West Indies managed to pull off a creditable 1-1 draw in the series.

They drew the first Test in Antigua, lost the second in Grenada by nine wickets before rebounding to win the final game at Kensington Oval in Barbados by five wickets.