Eurosport, Europe’s leading sports entertainment group, is sponsoring the Sports Tourism programme at World Travel Market 2012
WTM, the leading global event for the travel industry, has championed the cause of Sports Tourism for a number of years. There is a strong focus on the sector at this year’s WTM, following on from London hosting the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Reed Travel Exhibitions Director World Travel Market Simon Press said: “Eurosport’s continued support gives our Sports Tourism programme additional kudos. The media is a big influence in promoting tourism to host destinations of high-profile sporting events.”
“The World Travel Market today plays an important role in bringing key players and influencers from sport and tourism together under one roof for the exchange of ideas and practices, as well as offering excellent networking opportunities, ” said the Eurosport Group’s Global Commercial Director, Olivier Fisch.
The Sports Tourism programme, sponsored by Eurosport, starts on the first day of WTM, Monday 5 November, at 3pm with Tourism and the Olympic Games 2012 – A Review which will look at the impact the London 2012 Games has had on London’s and the UK’s tourism industry.
Speakers include European Tour Operators Association Tom Jenkins, who has been an outspoken critic of the impact the Olympic Games has had on tourism for host cities arguing that tourists stay away in the build-up, during and aftermath of the event.
UKinbound Chief Executive Mary Rance shares her thoughts on the impact of the London games in the session which takes place in Platinum Suite 4 at ExCeL – London.
The major sporting event theme continues on Wednesday 7 November with Optimising the Tourism Benefits of Major Event for Host Nations which will ask what the major right holders (such as the International Olympic Committee and FIFA) should be doing to help deliver the potential tourism benefits.
Visit Britain Chief Executive Sandie Dawe will review the help she received from the IOC.
Professor Geoffrey Lipman from the Chair of DeHaan Institute’s Advisory Board will chair the event, which takes place on Wednesday 7th November at 3.30pm in Platinum Suite 3.
The final session in the Sports Tourism programme looks at adventure tourism. The Future for Activity, Adventure and Sports Tourism panel of speakers includes;
• Xola Consulting CEO Caroline Heyniger
• The Adventure Travel Trade Association Vice President Chris Chesak
• Wilderness Scotland Director Paul Easto
It takes place on Tuesday 6 November at 2pm in South Gallery Rooms 23 & 24.
Reed Travel Exhibitions, Fiona Jeffery OBE, Chairman of World Travel Market said: “WTM, the leading global event for the travel industry, is ideally positioned to bring together destinations, specialist operators, trade bodies and superstars with a business interest in this multi-billion pound sector that is sports tourism.”
About World Travel Market
World Travel Market, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend four-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry.
Almost 48, 000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international press, embark on ExCeL – London every November to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends at WTM.
WTM, now in its 33rd year, is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals.
WTM 2011 will generate £1, 653 million of travel industry contracts, revealed independent research by Fusion Communications.
WTM is owned by the world’s leading events organiser Reed Exhibitions (RE), which organises a portfolio of other travel industry events including Arabian Travel Market and International Luxury Travel Market.
In 2010, RE held more than 460 events in 36 countries bringing together more than seven million people from around the world generating billions of dollars in business.
About Reed Travel Exhibitions
Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world’s leading provider of exhibitions in the travel and tourism industry. Its wide-ranging portfolio of events around the globe covers leisure travel, luxury travel, business travel and the meetings and incentives industry.
In 2011 RTE 13 events were the catalyst for £2, 807 million worth of travel and tourism business deals.
The 13 events are; World Travel Market (WTM), Arabian Travel Market (ATM), International French Travel Market (IFTM), La Cumbre, International Golf Travel Market (IGTM), International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), International Luxury Travel Market Asia (ILTMA), Asia-Pacific Incentives & Meetings Expo (AIME) (owned by Melbourne Convention + Visitors Bureau), Global Exhibition for Incentive, Business Travel, and Meetings (EIBTM), Gulf Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (GIBTM), Americas Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (AIBTM), China Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings (CIBTM) and Business Travel Market.
April 2013 will see RTE launch World Travel Market Latin America in São Paulo.
RTE is a business unit of Reed Exhibitions. In 2011, six million participants attended RE’s 500 events in 39 countries covering 44 industry sectors from aerospace and aviation to beauty and cosmetics to sports and recreation.
Reed Exhibitions is owned by Reed Elsevier, the world’s leading provider of professional information and online workflow solutions.
ABOUT EUROSPORT GROUP
The Eurosport Group is Europe’s leading sports entertainment group. Eurosport, the n°1 pan-European TV channel, broadcasts in 20 languages and reaches 130 million homes across 59 countries. Eurosport HD is the high definition simulcast of Eurosport. Eurosport 2 broadcasts to 59 million households in 18 languages across 47 countries. Eurosport 2 HD was launched in August 2009. Eurosport Asia-Pacific reaches 17 countries in the region and launched an HD channel in September 2011. Eurosportnews is the sports news channel transmitted worldwide. Eurosport.com, Europe’s n°1 online sports destination, has up to 19 million unique users per month (comScore) across an international network of sports websites in 11 languages, including Yahoo! co-branded sites in Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK. The Eurosport.com free mobile applications are available in 10 languages. Eurosport Player, Eurosport’s web TV service, provides LIVE and on-demand sports to fans’ PCs in 52 countries and the Player mobile application is available in up to 18 countries. Eurosport Events is the group’s expert division in the management and promotion of international sporting events.
