March 7, 2018, (Halifax, Nova Scotia): For the first time, the sport tourism industry will gather on the east coast for its annual conference. Sport Events Congress 2018 (SEC18) begins this week at the Halifax Convention Centre and 400 people are expected to attend.
Representatives of sport event rights holders, destinations, event suppliers and sponsors will participate in three days of professional development, business-to-business promotion and networking at the conference organized by the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA). Held yearly since 2001, SEC brings together the key players in the tourism industry’s fastest growing segment.
With a definite East Coast theme to the festivities, several speakers on the program come from the Atlantic provinces, including a panel on Wednesday, March 7 featuring Mayor Dawn Arnold, Moncton, N.B.; Mayor Danny Breen, St. John’s,Nfld.; Mayor Mike Savage, Halifax Regional Municipality, N.S.; and Mayor Peter Brown of Airdrie, Alta.
There are also internationally recognized speakers, including Shane O’Sullivan, Head of Content, PISM Sport & Entertainment Inc., London, U.K. and Mike Laflin, President & CEO, Sportcal, also based in the U.K. Tom Grilk the CEO of the Boston Athletic Association, will share how the Boston Strong movement grew organically and turned tragedy into an inspiring story from the Boston Marathon.
The event was planned to allow delegates to take in the action at the U SPORTS Men’s Basketball at Scotiabank Centre. Presentations have also been designed with an emphasis on interactive sessions, and to create an engaging, collaborative experience. ‘Sweatworking’ options feature running groups and learning the latest Zumba moves.
One of the regular features of SEC18 is the Sport Events Exchange where close to 60 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.
The PRESTIGE awards luncheon on Thursday, hosted by CBC’s Colleen Jones, will honour the best in 2017 sport tourism events, people, organizations and sponsors.
#SEC18 │ #sporttourism │ @SportEventsCong
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About the Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance (CSTA)
The Canadian Sport Tourism Alliance is a non-governmental, member-based, capacity building organization that promotes sport tourism as a grassroots economic development initiative at the community level. The CSTA services over 500 members across Canada, including 150 municipalities, 300 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 in Canada with over $6.5 billion in annual spending by domestic and international visitors.
For further information contact:
Barb MacDonald, Communications Consultant, CSTA
Tel: (613) 894-1769
Email: [email protected]