Global Travel & Tourism Summits 2003-06

2006: Washington DC

Tarsh Consulting has advised the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) on communications, with an emphasis on the Council’s Global Summit since spring 2003.

At the  6th Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Washington DC, over 175 journalists from the world’s top news media attended, including ABC, AFP, AP, APTN, BBC, Bloomberg, CBS, CNBC, CNN, C-Span, Deutsche Presse, El Pais, Guardian, FT, Forbes, Les Echos, Independent on Sunday, National Geographic, NBC, New York Times, NHK, Daily Telegraph, Televisa, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.

More than 300 dedicated reports were produced and Tarsh generated $1.75m in media sponsorship from BBC World, Newsweek, National Public Radio, the Wall Street Journal and leading trade publications. On account of these achievements, Tarsh was named Sales & Marketing Interim Manager of the Year.  [Review the nomination.]

Relationship History

Tarsh Consulting was first appointed by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) in 2003 to handle media relations for the 3rd Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Vilamoura, Portugal, with less than three months to go to the event. The main objective was to raise the Summit's profile by securing coverage by a major TV network and the attendance of 50 international journalists.

At that time, the Travel & Tourism industry was in crisis, suffering from Terrorism, Global Recession, War and SARS.

Tarsh told the media that the industry had been visited by the “Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse” and the leaders would be gathering in the Algarve resort of Vilamoura to discuss what to do next. To encourage media attendance, Tarsh distributed a series of briefing notes on the main topics and conducted a personal telephone campaign to woo the most influential reporters. WTTC also prepared a report into the economic impact of SARS, which would be released at a press conference just prior to the opening.

The story captured the attention of news organisations from around the world, which sent reporters, cameramen and satellite equipment to follow the Summit live.

On the second day of the Summit, Tarsh recommended that all Summit delegates address any questions about SARS as “yesterday’s issue” and that the focus should switch to building for recovery. The strategy paid off and, from that moment, media attention began to turn towards a more optimistic future for Travel & Tourism.

Rick Miller, WTTC's VP Research & Economics said: "WTTC has never had media attendance that could come close to comparing with this."

Tarsh was reappointed for the following year's summit, which took place in Doha and built on the success of Vilamoura. Media attendance was 60% up on 2003 and, for the first time in WTTC’s history, Tarsh Consulting secured media sponsorship for the Summit worth over $400,000.

Tarsh Consulting was again commissioned to handle the media for the 2005 Summit in New Delhi and continued to build on the success of previous Summits - by 2007 the value of media sponsorship had increased to over $2m with BBC World, Newsweek and the Wall Street Journal as the major global partners.