Tourvest Inbound Operations reveals plans for its new sporting events management company
Tourvest Inbound Operations (TIO) has launched new Tourvest Event Activation Management (T.E.A.M.) as part of its business strategy for the 2010 Soccer World Cup. The new company specialises in sporting events and its new logo represents a scoreboard.
TIO CEO Martin Wiest says: "The FIFA World Cup is the single largest destination management undertaking in South African history. It was hard work, but we won six of the seventeen FIFA sponsor tenders, and today T.E.A.M. is gearing up to provide a seamless, unforgettable experience for all its clients. We have learnt a lot from previous events - and hence will add great value to many other huge international sporting events for which we will continue to tender."
TIO has committed over R200-million to this project, with R150-million going to accommodation bookings alone for the World Cup. The company will be handling all logistics for key official sponsors including Cip/adidas, Kempster/Castrol and Coca Cola.
"We are taking care of about 70 000 World Cup visitors, mostly VIPs. To ensure trouble-free transport, we have secured large fleets of coaches, and on the eventing side, approximately R8-million has been spent to secure venues like the Victory Theatre, Moyo restaurants as well as the rooftop bar at the new Johannesburg Holiday Inn in Sandton. About 500 expert TIO staff members will be dedicated to this phenomenal sporting event," explains Philip Bourdin, MD of T.E.A.M.
Although being a new business unit within TIO, T.E.A.M. has successfully managed hospitality components of the African Cup of Nations in Angola, partnering with Octagon/Sportsworld for Standard Bank, last year's Confederations Cup 2009, the Lions Rugby Tour and IPL Cricket Tour.
The company has submitted tenders to manage the 2011 Rugby World Cup in New Zealand, 2013 FIFA Confederations Cup in Brazil, 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil as well as the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Wiest says: "A globally mobile component of TIO staff has already been identified to locate and set up office in Brazil, which will afford these individuals great career opportunities, whilst helping to expand T.E.A.M.'s presence globally. Though we initially envisaged T.E.A.M. as a once-off business model for the FIFA World Cup 2010 event, the objective now is to establish it as the world's leading sports event destination management companies for corporate companies, through the implementation of our innovative strategies activation."
Staff working for T.E.A.M. include Heinz Enne, who originally founded Welcome Tourism Services, and has been brought out of semi-retirement and brought on board for his logistics skills. Other staff who worked on the 2006 World Cup in Germany have been flown in on contract for the building duration of the event. T.E.A.M.'s general manager is Andrew Lailvaux, who has returned to South Africa from Kenya to manage the operations for the event.
TIO is part of Tourvest Holdings, a diversified portfolio of tourism businesses. With more than 30 years of inbound tourism experience, TIO provides structure to seven different brands:
Welcome Tourism Services; Your Africa; Global Conferences; Focus Tours; Silver Star Tours; Sense of Africa (Namibia) and now T.E.A.M.
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