Chinese scheme set to boost tickets for tennis
Published: 27 January 2011
An innovative new partnership between Welcome to Yorkshire and the country's Chinese students is set to see hundreds of extra fans attend Sheffield's 66th English Open table tennis championships this weekend.
The new pilot scheme has seen the county's official tourism agency open up links using dedicated marketing in Chinese to students at universities in Leeds, Manchester, Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham, Leicester and Loughbrough.
As a result, around 440 students are expected to attend the major event at Sheffield's English Institute of Sports on Sunday to watch the tournament's final games.
Peter Dodd, Welcome to Yorkshire's Marketing Director, said: "This is a pioneering new way of marketing major events to different student communities, in this case Chinese students from a wide area of the UK.
"It's the first time we've done this and our marketing has involved creating Chinese language websites, posters and social media channels to make it easier to open up access to major events for these students.
"It also increases visitor numbers and attendance at these events and hopefully they will have a great time and tell others, which ultimately helps increase visits to Yorkshire."
Welcome to Yorkshire is also officially supporting the event which forms part of a calendar of major sporting events taking place in Sheffield throughout 2011.
Mr Dodd added: "We are now planning on using this new way of marketing to Chinese students ahead of other major events in Sheffield including the World Short Track Speed Skating Championships, the FINA World Diving Championship and the World Snooker Championships at The Crucible."
For more information visit www.englishopenchinese.com and www.yorkshire.com
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Editors' Notes:
- Welcome to Yorkshire is the official tourism agency for Yorkshire, working to grow the county's visitor economy.
- Welcome to Yorkshire is funded by Yorkshire Forward, the Regional Development Agency charged with improving the Yorkshire and Humber economy.
- Key facts include:
- Tourism in Yorkshire is worth £7 billion annually
- The county's industry employs almost a quarter of a million people
- There are 216 million visits to Yorkshire each year
For more news and a free image bank www.yorkshire.com/mediacentre
For further information contact:
Graham Poucher - Press Officer
Email: gpoucher@yorkshire.com
Direct Line: 0113 322 3578
Mobile: 07805 958728
Andy Denton - Press Officer
Email: adenton@yorkshire.com
Direct Line: 0113 322 3537
Mobile: 0785 5812094