March 3, 2016, (Ottawa, Ontario): It will be three days packed with professional development, business-to-business promotion and networking for the nearly 350 people in Ottawa to attend Sport Events Congress 2016 (SEC).
This annual gathering of sport event rights holders, destinations, event suppliers and sponsors is organized by the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA), and takes place at The Westin Ottawa hotel from March 6-8, 2016. Held yearly since 2001, SEC draws people from across Canada who are key players in the tourism industry’s fastest growing segment.
“Sport Events Congress really offers something for everyone in the sport tourism industry,” said Rick Traer, CEO of the CSTA. “The professional development is exceptionally valuable, as people learn best practices from industry leaders in everything from how to bid and host an event to generating ticket sales to online broadcasting of your event to wide audiences. Our goal is to provide strong programming combined with superior networking opportunities to continue growing this significant industry.”
Speakers at this year’s event include: The Honourable Carla Qualtrough, Minister of Sport and Persons with a Disability; The Honourable Michael Coteau, Minister of Tourism, Culture and Sport (Ontario); Greg Stremlaw (CBC Sports); Peter Montopoli (Canadian Soccer Association); Dean McIntosh (Hockey Canada); Martin Boileau (Sport Canada); and Andrew Campbell (Canada 150 Federal Secretariat) among others!
The 10th anniversary PRESTIGE awards luncheon on Monday will honour the best in 2015 sport tourism events, people, organizations and sponsors. Another featured activity of SEC is the Sport Events Exchange where more than 40 different sport organizations ‘speed-date’ with destinations for eight minutes at a time to see if their sport and the city/region would be a good match. SEC was planned to coincide with the Tim Hortons Brier, as participants will attend the Monday night draw.
The Sport Events Congress is open to media interested in attending. Please review the complete schedule online or with your mobile device.
#SEC2016 │ #sporttourism │ @SportEventsCong
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For further information contact:
Barb MacDonald, CSTA Communications Consultant
Tel: (613) 894-1769
barbmacd@storm.ca
About Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA)
The Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA) is a tourism industry led organization that promotes sport tourism as an economic development initiative at the community level. The CSTA services over 400 members across Canada, including 145 municipalities, 200 national and provincial sport, multi-sport and major games organizations and a variety of other sport and tourism industry partners. Sport tourism is the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry with approximately $5.2 billion in annual spending by domestic and international visitors.