Key Highlights:
- Over 22,000 hotel room nights
- Worked with 62% of all competing teams including 20 largest
- Rolled out global retail network through Asia, Europe, UK and Oceania
- Generated $416,500 in additional revenue to Richmond 2015
Services Provided:
- Travel Office Development,
- Delegate & Official Travel,
- Team Logistics,
- VIP Experiences,
- Hospitality,
- Accommodation Contracting,
- Ground Transport Contracting,
- Fan Engagement
Event Overview:
The Road World Championships (Worlds) is cycling’s pinnacle event, held annually in an international city as chosen by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) through a competitive bidding process similar to the Olympic Games. Worlds is a nine-day event, featuring 12 Championship races for Elite Men and Women, Under 23 Men and Junior Men and Women. It is a rare opportunity for the athletes to compete for their country. Athletes compete in three different disciplines including the traditional Road Race, the Individual Time Trial and the recently introduced Team Time Trial. World Champions are crowned in each discipline.
Richmond 2015 delivered the largest cycling event in history to the USA, covered by more than 500 media outlets from around the world and broadcast live to a global audience of more than 300 million people.
Project Overview:
Mummu Sport was engaged as the Exclusive Travel Partner for the 2015 UCI Road World Championships held in Richmond, Virginia USA after winning the tender to deliver the Travel, Logistics and Commercial elements of the event.
Mummu Sport was engaged to provide Travel, Logistics and Commercial services to the event. Mummu’s CEO took the role of Director, Travel Office to oversee the delivery of all travel and logistics requirements of event stakeholders including teams, officials, media, delegates and fans with the particular emphasis placed on cost management and revenue generation.
As the exclusive travel partner for the event, Mummu Sport worked closely with Regional and State tourism bodies to contract over 70 hotel properties. Over the period, Mummu Sport sold over 22,000 hotel room nights, breaking the record for room nights sold in Richmond Virginia by over 4,000.
Mummu Sport designed and delivered a global Official Travel Agent’s (OTA) licensing program, licensing agents in four major markets of USA, Europe, Australia and UK. The Travel Office managed the contracting, distribution and operational management of key event assets including:
- Hospitality – pricing, site design and sales
- Merchandise – strategic planning and pre-sales
- VIP Experiences – designed and delivered VIP experiences fans from over 10 countries
- Event Operations – venue operations and ground logistics
What Worked and Why
Through the creation and management of the Richmond 2015 Travel Office, Mummu managed the travel and logistics requirements of most competing teams from over 70 countries. Being in the USA, this service was well received from teams not resourced to travel globally for races.
Mummu Sport’s experience in major sporting events offered Richmond 2015 great insight and strategic advice in the operational and commercial management of the event including working with security, venue overlay, hospitality, ticketing and travel.
Richmond 2015’s OTA Program, delivered by Mummu Sport provided the event a global retail network which assisted in breaking the attendance record of a world championships with 645,000 spectators attending the 10 day event.