6 March 2008

This week, the London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) announced that over 600 high-quality elite  sporting facilities throughout the UK will feature in its  Pre-Games Training Camp Guide. These facilities will give teams and individual athletes a great selection of venues to prepare and acclimatise for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Published at the Beijing Games this summer, the Guide will be circulated to all National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and National Paralympic Committees (NPCs).  Extensive details of the facilities will appear on a dedicated website showcasing the quality and variety of options throughout the UK which will help them decide where to send their teams to train.

National tourism agency, VisitBritain, has been selected by LOCOG to deliver this new website in conjunction with LOCOG. The agency has extensive experience managing 46 versions of its award-winning international websites in 26 languages, which are used by 13 million unique visitors every year. Funded by VisitBritain and LOCOG, the site will launch in time for the Beijing 2008 Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Tom Wright, VisitBritain’s chief executive, says: “This Guide contains high quality elite sporting facilities right across the UK.   This is a chance for facilities to market themselves abroad.   The Guide gives teams and individual athletes a great selection of venues from which they can choose. We also aim to use the information after 2012 as a point of reference for anyone wanting to visit or use sporting facilities throughout Britain.

“The ability to host camps is also a way of engaging and involving the whole country. It provides a great opportunity for nations and regions of the UK to host an international team or individual athletes, bringing not only economic benefits, but also involving their communities to support the London Games.”

Sebastian Coe, Chairman of the London Organising Committee, commented: “The facilities listed in this Guide and on the website will really help overseas athletes prepare well. This is a great opportunity for towns throughout the UK to get involved in our plans. The new website will continue to be a real asset and provide up-to-date information about sporting facilities across the UK  in the run-up to and beyond the Games.” 

Visiting teams will bring obvious spending power to the facility and the town concerned, but also give the towns involved the chance to develop cultural and sporting links with the teams concerned. Research indicates that Britain’s £85 billion visitor economy could enjoy a potential £2 billion benefit as a result of hosting the London Olympic Games in 2012.

Tom Wright continues: “Britain is a sporting nation. Potential visitors rank us 5th out of 38 countries for excelling at sport. 41 per cent say they would be very likely to watch a football match if they were to visit Britain and 33 per cent another sport like tennis, rugby or horseracing.

“Our reputation has been earned in part by the popularity of our world-renowned events and venues at destinations in every nation and region. Our aim is to create an online presence that fully represents that variety.”

VisitBritain is also exploring the potential of a complementary site that will raise awareness of community sporting venues as well as those that are unsuccessful as prospective training camps. The organisation plans to continue to use the training camp information after the London 2012 Games, helping to create a legacy for and raise awareness of sporting venues and events that are a key element of the visitor experience in Britain.

Further information: Elliott Frisby, Corporate PR Manager on 020 8563 3035 or 07951 996241

www.visitbritain.com/presscentre

Notes to Editors

·         VisitBritain is responsible for promoting Britain as a world class tourist destination and for developing England’s visitor economy. It has representatives in 36 countries around the world and, in the last three years, has expanded into China, throughout Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, and increased its presence in India with representatives in Bangalore and Mumbai.

·         In 2006, there were 32.7 million visits to Britain, 9% up on 2005. They spent over £16 billion in the UK: a 12% increase on 2005.Globally, the UK retains 6th place in visitor arrivals, slipping one place to 6th in spend.

·         VisitBritain’s international website, www.visitbritain.com, was awarded World’s Leading Tourism Authority Internet Site for the fourth year in a row at the 2007 World Travel Awards by more than 200,000 travel and tourism professionals. With information provided in 26 different languages, every year over 12 million visits are made by international consumers to the 46 websites that make up visitbritain.com. VisitBritain plans to increase this to 25 million by 2009.