The decision, announced by David Tomatis, executive vice president of Sportel, comes after extensive consultation with clients, keen to tap into the Asian TV market.
Said Tomatis: “The majority of the respondents to our survey indicated a clear preference for Hong Kong as the site of our next spring market and we are pleased to offer our clients the luxury of the world-renowned InterContinental Hotel as the venue for the first SportelAsia.”
Organisers have already been forced to scrap two proposed Sportel’s in Asia as a result of the SARS virus – this time they hope it will be third time lucky.
Adds Tomatis: “Hong Kong has long been one of the world’s premier destinations for both international business and pleasure travel and has lots to offer our participants. We certainly expect our Hong Kong location to attract many companies from the growing Asian region but clearly, SportelAsia 2005 will be a global event, as are all our international markets.”
The spring marketplace has traditional been staged in Miami, but organisers switched their attention elsewhere two years ago. Last year, the event was staged in Dubai.
The Hong Kong event will take place between March 14-16.
The traditional Monaco event remains, with the next event taking place at the Grimaldi Forum in Monaco on October 11-14.
