ATPI Sports Events celebrates another year of strong growth in 2018

After a series of client wins, high-profile event success and team expansion throughout 2018, ATPI Sports Events, part of the leading travel and events business, ATPI Group, ended the year on a high celebrating another year of strong growth.

The early part of 2018 was dominated by the Winter Olympics. As Official Ticketing & Hospitality partner of the Canadian and Dutch Olympic Committees, ATPI successfully managed corporate and individual travel programmes to the PyeongChang 2018  Games. This followed iSportConnect’s appointment of ATPI Sports Events as its exclusive travel partner to deliver world-leading travel, events and hospitality programmes for key figures in the global sports industry.

In addition, Heineken International appointed ATPI to deliver hospitality programmes around a number of Formula One races across the globe, where the ATPI Sports Events team took care of all international guests from arrival to departure.

2018 also marked the sixth occasion that the division coordinated travel and hospitality programmes for the Volvo Ocean Race challenge, this time as the official hospitality agency. The dedicated ATPI team followed the nine-month and 45,000 nautical mile race on-the-ground to ensure a smooth delivery of the complex operations involved with the prestigious round-the-world yacht competition.

Recognising the business’ longstanding expertise, it was ‘Game On Down Under’ as ATPI Sports Events was appointed by the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games Corporation as one of only two Authorised Travel Agents (ATA) granted with exclusive access to deliver a number of selected travel packages for the Games. As the official travel partner of the Invictus Games in Sydney, ATPI Sports Events was responsible for managing travel of 500 competitors and 1,000 members of their family and friends who travelled to Australia to  celebrate the unconquered spirit of wounded, injured and ill defence personnel and veterans.

The business secured two more high-profile sporting clients towards the end of the year, which will see the team managing travel arrangements for the Fédération Equestre Internationale (FEI), the global governing body for horse sport and the British Gymnastics team for World Gymnaestrada 2019 Austria, the largest gymnastics event in the world. The new partners will benefit from ATPI Sports Events’ proven track record of successfully managing the needs of leading sports organisations, providing event organisers, athletes and fans with unified, seamless and cost-effective travel expertise.

In view of the ongoing successes, ATPI Sports Events also announced a senior appointment to support the team’s ambitious growth plans. Helen van Berkel took on the role of global head of events, expanding her current role as managing director for the sports and corporate events business in the Netherlands and Canada.

Looking ahead, the business is currently preparing for further team expansion, including six new appointments in Canada. ATPI Sports Events is already working on preparations for a host of corporate hospitality programmes for the Summer Olympics, which will take place from 24 July – 9 August 2020 in Tokyo, Japan.

“In the past year ATPI’s Sports Events division has gone from strength to strength, demonstrating its expertise in this competitive arena. We’re excited about the new partnerships established with world leading sports and events organisations in 2018 as they open up opportunities for further international expansion” said, Helen van Berkel, global head of events, the ATPI Group.

ATPI Sports Events is one of the world’s fastest growing events businesses with specialist teams delivering travel, events, corporate hospitality, ticketing, branding and sponsorship activation programmes for leading sports events and corporate brands around the world.