Around 70 athletes are expected from overseas for the Corporate Games — just a fraction of the number originally anticipated.The problem was yesterday blamed by the organisers on the “very severe economic slowdown” in the United States and Europe.When Tourism Minister Wayne Furbert announced the initiative last November he said: ”The event is targeted to bring between 500 to 750 visitor participants.”The following month, Minister of Sports Glenn Blakeney said: “The Island will welcome thousands of competitors vying to participate in this prestigious event.”The games, organised by the Whitfield Group event marketing firm, were expected to inject $2.5 million dollars into Bermuda’s economy.In March 2012, the event organisers spoke of hopes it would attract over 2,500 local and international competitors. In August, they referred to 1,000 to 2,000 competitors expected to come from the East Coast of Canada and the US and the Caribbean.However, a press statement issued on Tuesday by the Whitfield Group said up to 70 athletes are now expected from overseas for the four-day games, which begin tomorrow.An additional 1,500 locals are expected to anticipate in the inaugural event for the Corporate Games in the Atlantic region.The statement said: “The Bermuda Corporate Games is not only the largest multi-sport event in the Atlantic, it’s also breaking records in the global corporate games community, by having the most athletes per capita to ever compete in the global phenomenon.“With over 85 participating companies and close to 1,500 athletes competing in 15 different sports, the games has attracted 3.25 percent of Bermuda’s working population — the largest percentage ever in corporate games history.“According to information from participating organisations, athletes will not only represent Bermuda. The Bermuda Corporate Games organisation is also anticipating up to 70 athletes to be travelling from Toronto, Orlando, Bucharest, Istanbul, New York, Colorado, the United Kingdom, Miami and California to compete.”The idea behind the games is that athletes representing large and small companies, organisations and charities compete in sports including badminton, beach volleyball, golf and netball. Sponsors of the event include the Department of Tourism, Catlin, XL and the Whitfield Group.Questions sent to Government and the games’ organisers resulted in the following response from the Corporate Games Committee yesterday: “Over the last nine months, a major marketing initiative has been undertaken by the corporate games in the Atlantic states which has achieved substantial success in awareness raising, longer term planning and the extensive promotion of Bermuda as a major sports tourism destination.“The very severe economic slowdown in the United States, and especially in Europe, resulting in drastic cuts in the HR and corporate health and recreation budgets of many major companies, created a serious obstacle to marketing in the short-term.“In addition, the available time between the awarding of the games to Bermuda (November 2011) and corporate budget setting period (usually September through December) together with the unusual absence of other disposable company funds in a very tight economy made the development of off-island teams and their support much more difficult than had been anticipated. As a direct result of these factors the numbers of overseas participants hoped for in year one could not be achieved“However, the receptiveness to the concept of the games, and to its first staging in Bermuda as its host nation, was outstanding. There is every reason to expect that future editions of the games will reach the target hoped for in year one and exceed it in subsequent years.”The statement added that the first games in Sydney, Australia, only attracted a total of 1,280 participants, but the number now regularly exceeds 9,000 annually.“Bermuda has beaten Sydney’s first participation base handsomely, and though it may not reach the very large numbers of Australia’s largest city, we expect that it will quickly grow to be a continuing credit to the Country and a substantial contributor to fitness, health, business, tourism and the economy for several years to come,” it said.A request for information on how much money Government is spending on the games did not yield any information by press time.