The McCluskey Blog

Sports tourism #2

As a follow up to my last post, I thought it was worth writing a little more about sports tourism. Sport is a major force in society and the sports tourism sector contributes over £1.5 billion a year to the UK economy. High profile events as the Olympics, Ryder Cup, Formula 1, Wimbledon and the Rugby Six Nations all attract increasing numbers of people wanting to travel both as spectators and to participate in sporting events and tours. See this article from the Independent travel section highlighting the many different ways to experience the Olympics.

We worked with the Piedmont region of Italy in the run-up to the 2006 Winter Olympics to heighten awareness of the region’s new skiing facilities: see this coverage in the Telegraph, and here in ABTA Magazine, and read here how much importance Piedmont attached to the 2006 Winter Olympics as a whole.

The recent America’s Cup in Valencia (a client of ours) gave us the opportunity to secure large amounts of PR coverage for the city in a wider range of media. We are delighted that the America’s Cup will be once again hosted by Valencia in 2009.

Soft adventure for beginners, like-minded singles and the older market is booming, and serious adrenalin-seekers think nothing of going to the other side of the world to find the best hiking trails, biggest surf; or most thrilling dive; no one is too old or too young.

From sky-diving above the Maldives (which we arranged for Johnny Morris, The Telegraph) to embarking on the world’s highest commercial bungee jump down the Gordon Dam in Tasmania (which we arranged for Charles Starmer-Smith, The Telegraph), we have discovered that nothing is too extreme to be tackled by a British writer.

Learning to Surf on Bondi Beach

I blogged last year about the decline in terrestrial TV opportunities for publicising travel in the UK. Although it's coming back for a one-off special next week, gone are the days of Wish You Were Here...? and BBC Holiday.

I think the web is going to replace this pretty quickly. We recently helped arrange for Telegraph journalist Adrian Bridge to visit Sydney (New South Wales is a client of ours) and he took some time out to try and learn to surf. But he didn't just come back and write about it, which would previously have been thye norm - this time he took a camera and produced a short film, which can be watched on the Telegraph's website.

The film gives a good introduction to Bondi, and shows Adrian wiping out several times before he finally manages to stand up for a few seconds (with the aid of his instructor 'Big Wave Dave'). And it's all topped off with some informative voiceover and some twangy, Shadows-type music. Added to his article, it presents a richer impression of the destination and the experience.

The Telegraph has been producing these 'Real Trips' pieces for a few months now - another good example is the film showing Charles Starmer-Smith and Francisca Kellett racing to Paris to review the new Eurostar service from St Pancras. They're an excellent addition to the mainstream travel articles, both in-paper and online.

New Year, New Mexico!

Happy New Year everyone. The old blogging got a little slow towards the end of 2007, but let's not allow that to happen again, eh?

I just know you're all going to love New Mexico's advertising campaign. New Mexico, if you didn't know already, is going to be home to Spaceport America, the world's first space port. Yes, really! Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic will take off from the facility in the New Mexico desert from 2010.

Add to that the fact that New Mexico has a long history with space and aliens - charting back to the story of a supposed UFO crash in the desert near Roswell in July 1947. The military said it was a weather balloon, but that never stopped the tale from establishing a spot in science-fiction folklore.

So, what better theme for their TV advertising campaign than aliens from outer space? Click here to visit New Mexico, Earth. The ads show how office-bound aliens deliver the message that New Mexico truly offers the best vacation experience in the universe.

There are two ads to watch, and also a peek behind-the-scenes.