Barcelona, a Tour de France winner, Wimbledon All English Lawn Championship, and the English football Premier League will headline the inaugural Global Sports Tourism Summit at WTM London.
The Global Sports Tourism Summit at WTM London includes the first WTM Global Sports Tourism Awards, and takes place on Monday 7 November in Platinum Suite 1.
The summit kicks off at 1.30pm, with an introduction from University of Swansea Professor Terry Stevens. British Lion and Irish rugby star Keith Wood will then discuss the opportunity of sports tourism. Wood is Director of W2 Consulting, who are organising the summit.
Event Scotland’s Paul Bush will outline Scotland’s “wining ambition” to make it an international sports tourism destination. Bush is followed by Catalonia Tourism Board’s Director of Marketing, Patrick Torrent, who will speak on Barcelona and Sport – A Global Partnership for Sports Tourism.
Cycling’s ‘Triple Crown’ winner Stephen Roche’s session is titled A View From Both Sides of the Sporting Fence. In 1987, Roche won the Tour de France, Giro d’Italio, and the World Championship. He now runs Stephen Roche Cycling Holidays and Training Camps.
Enhancing the Sports Tourism Experience is the next section of the summit with Julian Jenkins, CEO of Fanylse, looking at Creating the Fan Experience – What we Can Learn From Sport. Wimbledon All England Lawn Championships’ James Ralley will discuss Beyond Two Weeks’ In The Year – Targeting A Global Audience Through Digital Marketing.
Afterwards, Tom Cassidy, Head of Tourism for Liverpool FC, explores the Premier League Sport Tourism Experience.
Visit Flanders, CEO, Peter de Wilde will then discuss Combining Mass Participation Events and Professional Events – The Destination Benefits. Flanders hosts the Tour of Flanders, one of the major races on the cycling calendar.
The content concludes with Sportcal CEO Mike Laflin, who reviews the City & Nations Sports Index.
The WTM Global Sports Tourism Awards will take place throughout the summit. Awards cover destination marketing, digital marketing, innovation, event sponsorship, major and mass participation events of the year, sports tourism city and town, and sports tourism impact.
World Travel Market London, Conference and Events Manager, Charlotte Sutton, said: “We have a great line up for the inaugural The Global Sports Tourism Summit at WTM London.
“Sports tourism is a vital and fast growing segment of the travel industry with tourists travelling for both big spectator events such as the Olympics and football World Cup, and participation events such as marathons and cycling races.
“Sports tourism can be lucrative for destinations and play a key role in putting cities and countries on the tourism map, The Global Sport Tourism Summit at WTM London will hear from many successes stories both in the speaking sessions and the awards.”
WTM London is the event where the travel and tourism industry conducts its business deals. Buyers from the WTM Buyers’ Club have a combined purchasing responsibility of $22.6 billion (£15.8bn) and sign deals at the event worth $3.6 billion (£2.5bn).
WTM London 2016 will be revamped as a three-day event from Monday 7 – Wednesday 9 November, with opening hours extended from 10am – 7pm for all three days.
