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Selling the Toronto sports message on the road
The Tourism Toronto Sport Sales team was joined by the Fairmont Royal York and Starwood representatives at the TEAMS 2011 Conference and Expo October 4-6 in Las Vegas. One of the world's leading conferences and expos for the sports event industry with a robust tradeshow of more than 300 suppliers selling to approximately 250 sports rights holders. TT had an opportunity to pre-arrange face-to-face appointments with 40 event organizers and industry leaders, among the 250 in attendance and network with over 1,500 participants.
ASAE Summit Awards Dinner
On October 5, the U.S. Association Sales team hosted a table at the 12th Annual ASAE Summit Awards Dinner. The event plays an important role in the ASAE year, dually functioning as a platform from which to recognize the good works that associations across America perform in their communities and also as a fundraising mechanism for the PWRA Fund which provides the resources ASAE needs to lobby Congress, activate grassroots networks, hold forums with elected officials, perform research and continue to share the Power of A message with legislators, the media and other opinion leaders.
NYT gets granular
The prestigious New York Times online travel section recently ran an item focusing on the Roncesvalles Village neighbourhood, mainly comprising a slideshow of “quirky coffeehouses and smart boutiques.”
Southern China fam
TT partnered with China Southern Airlines and Westjet to host a fam tour for 15 trade clients from the Pearl Delta region in Southern China from Oct 5-12. China Southern Airlines started passenger service from Guangzhou to Vancouver in June of this year which has led to increased flight capacity into Canada and Toronto in conjunction with Vancouver-Toronto air connections.
An eventful week in Vegas
From October 9-16, the MC&IT Sales team participated in a variety of events centered around the inaugural IMEX America Exhibition for Incentive Travel, Meetings & Events in Las Vegas. This event brought 2,000 hosted buyers and over 2,500 other global meeting industry professionals together to discuss future business. In spite of the current global economic situation, interest in Canada in general, and Toronto in particular, remains strong with special attention from Europe and Latin America. As IMEX drew to a close the Corporate Sales team moved on to the SITE (Society for Incentive Travel Executives) International Conference while the Association Sales team joined the PCMA International Summit where approximately 200 international association executives and vendors discussed key trends and best practices in the global meetings market.
Positioning city breaks for Parisians
In line with TT’s ongoing efforts to raise awareness and foster product development for the Toronto region in our key city of Paris, TT's International Leisure Trade Sales department recently hosted five clients from some of France’s largest tour operator companies during a Toronto familiarization program. The theme for this fam was “city break” vacations where Toronto was profiled as one of North America's great shopping, cultural and entertainment destinations. Feedback from the tour operators indicated a strong potential for the development of new 4-5 day Toronto city break shopping and entertainment programs for 2012.
In addition to the clients from Paris, the team, in tandem with our members, recently showcased Toronto to several U.K. and German trade clients during the following Toronto product education tours:
U.K. Canada Travel Specialists; September 16 -18, (6 U.K. travel agents)
U.K. Mega Fam; September 16-18, (35 U.K. travel agents)
German Canada Specialists; September 30-October 1 (11 German travel agents)
First Class Holidays; October 4-8 (8 U.K. travel agents)
Thomas Cook U.K.; October 10-12 (12 Thomas Cook reservation staff)
Fashion week
With the backdrop of LG Fashion Week Toronto, TT hosted a group of 15 incentive travel buyers and more than 30 media from the U.S. and key international markets including Mexico, Brazil, China and Korea. The program, in partnership with the Canadian Tourism Commission, Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership and Toronto’s Luxury Hotel Group shone the spotlight on Toronto style with behind-the-scenes VIP access at Fashion Week. Participants experienced the best of Toronto hospitality, design and food, and Tourism Toronto advanced some important relationships with influential buyers and media.
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