Volvo Ocean Race has appointed travel management and events business, ATPI Sports Events, as its global official hospitality agency for the 2017-18 edition. Starting in Alicante, Spain in October 2017, the race will visit 11 cities around the world, including Lisbon (Portugal), Cape Town (South Africa), Hong Kong, Guangzhou (China) and Auckland (New Zealand). It will then travel to Itajaí (Brazil), Newport (USA), Cardiff (Wales) and Gothenburg (Sweden) before finishing at The Hague (The Netherlands) in July 2018.
As the race’s official hospitality agency, ATPI Sports Events, part of the ATPI Group, will be responsible for the development, execution and sales of a number of selected hospitality experiences around the race stopovers. In addition, bolt-on services including flights and local transport can be arranged, either separately or added to hospitality packages, and bespoke programmes for those clients who wish to combine the Volvo Ocean Race experience with a sales conference, staff event or board meeting, can also be arranged.
ATPI Sports Events has over 10 years of experience in managing hospitality packages in sailing events, including working as the global travel and hospitality partner for competing teams during the 2005-06 and 2014-15 editions of the Volvo Ocean Race. In the wider sports arena, ATPI Sports Events was also involved in managing logistics at the 2016 Rio Olympic and Paralympic Games, 2015 Rugby World Cup and the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
Helen van Berkel, director, ATPI Sports and Corporate Events, said, “We are proud to be awarded this prestigious role. The Volvo Ocean Race is one of the most prestigious events in the sailing calendar. We are committed to working as partners alongside the Volvo Ocean Race team and our clients to deliver hospitality that offers unforgettable experiences, right in the heart of the action.”
Karin Bäcklund, commercial director, Volvo Ocean Race, added, “With ATPI Sports Events we have found a highly qualified and specialised hospitality agency. Their experience in managing large hospitality programmes around global sports events and dealing with the dynamic and unpredictable nature of sailing races, will be of tremendous value for the overall quality of our offering to race stakeholders and corporations.”
