The 2012 London Olympics offer specific market opportunities for hospitality and tourism businesses. However, these firms know little about how to prepare for this once in a lifetime mega event in order to maximize commercial benefits.
For the past two years the School of Hospitality and Tourism Management has been engaged in a Knowledge Transfer Partnership with Elliott Marketing & PR, one of the leading marketing agencies in the leisure, hospitality and tourism sector. This partnership has involved researching, analysing, strategizing and implementing advanced business processes and skills to assist the Company to enter the tourism industry and develop it competitively going forward.
In this seminar the project’s Market Analyst, Ian Lacey, will discuss the objectives and outcomes of the project and, in particular, talk about how the London Olympics was used as a launch platform for developing further tourism knowledge and expertise in the Company. Findings from a qualitative study drawing upon the experiences of restaurant owners, destination marketers and other tourism professionals in Vancouver, host city of the 2010 Winter Olympics, will be presented. The unique strategies currently being developed by Elliott Marketing & PR for hospitality and tourism businesses in order for them to exploit the business opportunities presented by the Olympics will be discussed.