World Sport Destination Expo will for the very first time showcase the $600 billion a year sport tourism industry at the heart of one of the biggest and most important events that the world will ever stage.
Co-located alongside the final week of the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, the landmark 5 day exhibition and conference programme will showcase to the most rapidly growing sector in the global travel and tourism industry. At a time when some traditional tourism trends are in decline, sport tourism continues to flourish and is set to grow exponentially in the next decade.
The world’s most sought after sporting destinations, bidding nations and cities, resorts and hotels, sporting bid committees, tour and event organisers, international media and elite buyers will for the very first time convene to conduct future business, source new contacts and markets and gain invaluable insights from the advanced knowledge of industry leaders and figure-heads.
50,000 visitors are expected to attend this ground-breaking event, as the sport tourism industry congregates in Johannesburg ahead of the final match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Participation in World Sport Destination Expo is critical to those companies involved in the sport tourism market-place, and those serious in assuming a market share of the industry’s fastest growing and most dynamic sector.
Attending WSDE
Press & PR
If you represent a destination eager to win the rights to host major sporting events, if you are a region or resort offering sporting facilities, if you are a facilitator of sport tourism, or a member of the international sports media, I urge you to participate in this must attend global event.
Gianni Merlo, President, International Sports Press Association
NEWS: 2010 - South Africa bids for Sporting and Future Tourism Glory
South Africa has hosted the Rugby World Cup, the Cricket World Cup and this summer will welcome the FIFA World Cup finals. In its bid to become a sports tourism powerhouse, football’s biggest event can be the springboard to fulfil the country’s massive ambitions.
World Sport Destination Expo (WSDE) - the first global exhibition to provide a business platform for the key buyers and suppliers involved in $600 billion a year sport tourism industry - spoke exclusively to two of the travel industry’s leading and most respected global figureheads: Jean-Claude Baumgarten, President and CEO of the WTTC and the UNWTO Secretary General, Taleb Rifai.
WSDE is uniquely co-located alongside the final week of the 2010 FIFA World Cup at the SCC Johannesburg with a remit to help Africa capitalise on the World Cup’s potential to create long lasting travel and tourism growth beyond 2010.
When asked what South Africa has to do in order to make sure the World Cup leaves a lasting legacy for the tourism industry, Jean-Claude Baumgarten, President and CEO of the World Travel & Tourism Council, said: “The fundamental advice I would give from my experience is that during a major event a country should not rest on its laurels and must actively and promote itself and demonstrate its future aptitudes to the world in order to create momentum.
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NEWS: 2010 - The Year of Sports Tourism
With a bumper calendar of mega sporting events, the exponential growth of sport related vacations and the continued sportification of society, sports tourism is set to play a catalytic role in sparking global tourism recovery in 2010.
Travel experts predict that the travel industry’s fastest growing sector will post record profits and contribute an astonishing 14% of overall travel and tourism receipts in the year ahead.
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