Leading players in tourism discuss ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 opportunities in London

The world's leading players in the hospitality sector now have a greater understanding of the opportunities being offered to the tourism industry by the ICC Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007, after attending the World Travel Market in London.

A presentation delivered recently by Chris Dehring, Managing Director, ICC (International Cricket Council) Cricket World Cup West Indies 2007 Inc., to some 90 representatives of the hotel, cruise, airline and tour operator industries as well as Caribbean Ministers of Tourism and representatives of tourism organizations, examined both the opportunities and challenges of the sporting event for the industry.

"Together we examined approaches to dealing with some of the challenges that the industry faces. The response I received was tremendously encouraging and one gets the sense that the wider market is extremely excited by the opportunities that the event has to offer," Dehring, who attended the World Travel Market at the invitation of the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO), said.

The Managing Director noted that one area discussed in greater detail was the need to identify and appoint a tour and travel partner to explore how best the region would benefit from the opportunities offered by the sporting event. The ICC CWC WI 2007 Inc., the company set up to manage and deliver the event, hopes to appoint this partner during the first half of next year.

In addition to the world hospitality industry, Dehring has also entered into a partnership with the CTO, which has established a Task Force on the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007 with CTO Secretary General Jean Holder saying that the event is "a major tourism opportunity."

According to President of the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB), Teddy Griffith, all Caribbean countries will benefit from the global exposure and the influx of visitors from the sporting event. "Even countries that do not host matches will benefit from the global exposure of the region and once the appropriate marketing is in place, visitors will no doubt travel to countries where no matches are to be played to experience the variety offered by the region," the President noted recently.

After delivering his presentation to the tourism representatives, Dehring traveled to St. Lucia to address the Special Caribbean Community Summit in Castries.

The World Travel Market is billed as the global event for the travel industry and was held from November 10 - 13 in London, England.

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