Being 70% mountainous Korea’s topography sets it out as an amazing sport tourism Mecca. The peninsulas coastline has a plethora of islands and islets, bronchi the biggest of which is ‘Jeju’, order a semi-tropical island off the south coast, formed by the ancient exploits of an underwater volcano. Added to which, Korea is the 15th biggest economy in the world and already an ‘old head on young shoulders’ when it comes to hosting the world’s biggest sporting events. All these ingredients have interwoven to form an Asian hub for sport tourism.

Within the psyche and fabric of Korean society, well-being for mind and body is within the country’s DNA and Koreans take advantage of the 20 national parks dotted across the country to hike, climb, ski and white water raft making it easier than ever for the international tourist to do the same. The watch word for Korea is ‘diversity’ exemplified by 15 ski-resorts mainly in the north-eastern part of the country keeping a vibrant ski season in business with world class facilities.

2011 will be another hugely important year for Korea’s sport tourism portfolio. The World Taekwondo Championships will be held in May, the IAAF World Athletics Championships in August and another F1 race will return to the new track at Yeongam in October.  Added to which, Pyeongchang, will find out if it will host the 2018 Winter Olympics, when the decision is made in July. Having narrowly missed out on the 2010 & 2014 games, Korea has high hopes for securing 2018; three consecutive bids shows the professionalism, tenacity and belief in what Korea can offer in this field. Investment in winter sports is evident with the opening of the Alpensia Resort, Gangwondo, costing more than $1.8 billion and includes Olympic-standard ski facilities, a five-star hotel and two golf courses. Such a busy sporting calendar is thanks to the legacy and positive reverberations continuing to be felt and reflected in all sectors of Korea’s tourism industry, since hosting the 1988 Summer Olympiad and 2002 FIFA World Cup.

If successful, the winter Olympics will bring global attention to the Korean peninsula once again and with that comes lucrative tangible and intangible benefits for the host nation. Winning the right to host a global sporting festival provides a unique platform from which to raise awareness of the destination, whilst cutting through cultural stereo-typing and showcasing the country’s diversity in areas such as arts, culture, heritage, music and dance. Not to mention acting as a catalyst for change with job creation and development of skills through volunteerism, also new or upgraded infrastructure such as Korea’s award winning Incheon International Airport which opened in 2001 just before the 2002 FIFA World Cup and huge investment in spacious exhibition and conference venues equipped with state-of-the-art technology.

Korea is divided into nine provinces and central government have been astute in spreading major events to all corners of the country widening economic development and raising awareness of areas beyond the capital ‘Seoul’, thus ensuring that the media have a consistent and balanced tourism narrative about the country to export internationally.

Closest to Seoul is the international gateway city of Incheon, dubbed the ‘new Dubai’, which has seen huge expansion and aims to become one of the four top distribution hubs in the world having been designated as a ‘free-economic zone’. Investment and development has helped it win the right to organise the 2014 Asian Games.

In August 2011, the world’s top athletes and media will descend on Daegu, for the IAAF World Athletics Championships. Daegu is located just under 2 hrs from Seoul by rail and is benefitting from the upgraded line carrying the high-speed KTX train between Seoul and Busan, now possible in 2 hours 10 minutes. Having already hosted the ‘2003 Summer Universidad’ Daegu is more than prepared for Augusts major event.

Further down the western coastline, a second F1 race will take place in autumn; a vehicle to regenerate the south west region. In addition to the circuit, the leisure complex will include hotels, a water park, marina, casino, golf course, theme park, shopping malls, water sports, restaurants and bars once all construction phases are complete. Yeongam will compliment ‘Yeosu 2012’ which is a world expo themed around ‘water and sustainability’.

Since 1996 Jeju Island has been a self-governing province, with tourism a key industry for the Island. Also, home to PGA standard golf courses and a world class football stadium, yet nature remains the major draw to adventure and health tourists, lured by the Island’s volcanic legacies which became Korea’s first natural site to be inscribed on UNESCO’s World Heritage listing back in June 2007, in recognition of their uniqueness. Activities that best take advantage of Jeju are the ‘Jeju Olle Trail’ – 200km of paths which criss-cross the island leading to forests, mountains and beaches. For adrenalin junkies the island is a natural play ground to mountain bike, scuba dive, paraglide or backpack to the craters and lava streams. The island has previously hosted ‘The Jeju International Ironman Korea’ authorized by the World Triathlon Council.

In 2013 a ‘Taekwondo Park’ is set to open in Muju and is anticipated to be a modern ‘world cultural heritage’ for Koreans and sport enthusiasts. The Korea Tourism Org in London is using this mile stone and the run-up to the 2012 London Olympics to work in partnership with Sport Taekwondo (UK), which is the performance arm of the British Taekwondo Control Board, to raise awareness of Korea as the ‘Home of Taekwondo’. This is providing an exceptional platform to promote the destination through the national sport using dedicated online brochures, social media tools and presence at key events.

Taekwondo is a hugely popular global sport with around 60 million practitioners in 184 countries and is a ‘must-do’ activity for tourists to experience whilst travelling in Korea.  The Taekwondo Park is a huge complex spreading across 2,314,000 m sq and divided into three theme zones: ‘Body’ – referred to as a ‘space for experience’ will encompass, for example, a Taekwondo Exhibition Hall and a ‘World Taekwondo Village’; ‘Mind’ will be dedicated to training with a multi-purpose stadium (5,000 seat) and World Taekwondo Academy; ‘Spirit’ will symbolize what the sport means to the home nation but also to sports people around the globe and will contain a ‘Hall of Honour’, ‘Water Terrace’ and ‘Observatory’. The park is nestled under Mt. Baekunsan in Muju, which boasts beautiful scenery of nine valleys. By 2016 forecasters predict annual visitors to reach 1.94 million.

Korea will become only the seventh country in the world to have organized the ‘Triple Crown’ once the IAAF World Athletics Championships Daegu are completed this year, following the successes of the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and 2002 FIFA World Cup. Thus, Sport tourism on the Korean peninsula is developing at a speed that ‘Usain Bolt’ would struggle to keep up with. Not only will federations entrust the country with future sporting events but as importantly global tourists, corporate meeting planners and conference organisers are confident to explore the scenic beauty and world-class cultural assets. Korea will continue to prosper as a hub for sport tourism and this sector will enhance the destination as a diverse, attractive and memorable country for visitors from all walks of life.

The governing council of cricket’s Indian Premier League (IPL) has ruled that a minimum of three players per team have to appear in any franchises’ commercial and promotional activities.

The council went on to clarify that if a certain player has no objection to promoting the brands of the teams individually, he can do so by signing a declaration.

However, DNA newspaper reports that the players will have to avail themselves for 10 promotional activities of their franchises. The governing council also came to the decision that the team logo has to be as prominent as the sponsor of the team on each of the franchises shirts.

The ruling has been made after some players had refused to endorse certain brands associated with the franchises arguing that there was a conflict of interest since they were already promoting rival brands.

Prominent players like Sachin Tendulkar, Yuvraj Singh, Harbhajan Singh and Ashish Nehra had recently met BCCI president Shashank Manohar to look into the matter.

Sponsorship consultancy Redmandarin have confirmed that former executive at advertising and marketing giant WPP, Nick Walford is to join the company as a partner as of tomorrow, March 1.

Walford founded a sponsorship business at JWT before working within WPP-owned Mindshare. Since leaving that position, Walford has assisted in the set-up of Equipio.com, a social networking and shopping website.

Walford stated: “The decision to join Redmandarin was surprisingly easy. My original agency vision was to build an expertise in sponsorship which attracted a group of people who really wanted to see sponsorship ‘done properly’ – that is, planned and executed with the same rigour and expertise as, for example, established creative and media disciplines, and integrated within an overall brand plan.”

Walford added: “It’s the archetypal agency vision but very difficult to achieve as part of an international network. The networks will always be there – but the potential for the specialist agency which offers direct accountability, excellence and acts as though it has skin in the game, has never been greater.”

Redmandarin CEO Shaun Whatling added: “There are very few people in the world of marketing whose judgement I respect and trust as comfortably as Nick’s. Hopefully Nick will give potential clients the assurance that our distinctive approach and sponsorship campaign planning processes are second to none.”

Soccerex have extended their line-up for the European Forum, clinic held in Manchester, March 30-31, announcing that manager of English Premier League soccer club Aston Villa Gérard Houllier, Burnley central defender and Chairman of the Professional Footballers Association (PFA) Clarke Carlisle and Chief Operating Officer of Wasserman Media Group, Sam Rush will speak at the Soccerex European Forum, 30-31 March, Manchester.

They will be part of a panel titled “Will financial regulation improve football?” which will look to assess the potential positive and negative impacts of European soccer’s planned financial regulation. The session will begin with an exclusive presentation on the financial fair play concept by Andrea Traverso, Head of Club Licensing, UEFA, the man responsible for the implementation of UEFA’s financial fair play rules.

Traverso will then join his fellow panellists to discuss the rules, how they will be implemented and the effects they will have on the many and varied stakeholders in the industry. The session will be moderated by Dan Jones, Partner, Head of Sport Business Group, Deloitte.

The panel combines a selection of football stakeholders ensuring the different viewpoints of manager, player and agent are covered. Clarke Carlisle, who was appointed as PFA chairman in November of last year, commented: “I am really excited to be representing the PFA and giving a player’s perspective on this important issue to Soccerex’s audience of football industry leaders.”

This not-to-be-missed panel is part of an exciting conference agenda covering topics such as the German football model, the different commercial challenges facing clubs, digital media and fan interaction, sponsor and rights holder relationships, and Eastern Europe’s upcoming tournaments and market development.

The two closest aides to sacked Delhi Commonwealth Games organising committee chairman Suresh Kalmadi have both been arrested on suspicion of corruption for their involvement in the running of last year’s event.

In an interview with the BBC, a spokesman for India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) stated that organising committee secretary general Lalit Bhanot and another leading executive, VK Verma, have been accused of inflating costs while procuring timers and scoring equipment from a Swiss manufacturer, Swiss Timing.

The alleged scam cost the Indian government nearly US$24m, but Swiss Timing has rejected all accusations against it with the company’s director general, Christophe Berthaud, insisting the claims were “absolutely wrong”.

Bhanot and Verma will appear in court later today, February 24, and have both denied the allegations.

Last month, new Indian Sports Minister Ajay Maken dismissed Bhanot from his role as secretary general, along with Kalmadi from the organising committee to enable police to conduct “impartial and unhindered investigations”. Pressure is now thought to be mounting on Kalmadi, with a number of similar corruption allegations made against him.

Gunilla Lindberg, chair of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) evaluation commission has praised the bid of South Korea’s PyeongChang’s to host the 2018 Winter Games after the 14-strong team of inspectors concluded a trip to the city.

Lindberg told a press conference on Saturday that PyeongChang had made “great progress” after having previously failed with bids for the 2010 and 2014 Olympics. The IOC team has already visited Annecy in France and is now visiting the final bidding city of Munich before publishing an evaluation report in May.

Lindberg stated: “We have seen great progress in the bid from previous two bids. It has been wonderful to see so many people showing their support to bring the Olympic Winter Games here to Korea.”

IOC inspectors also saw “very strong governmental support” for the bid and “passionate support” from residents, said Lindberg. PyeongChang bid committee chief Cho Yang-Ho added: “I think we have explained our preparations in detail.”

At a final round of presentations on Saturday, South Korean Prime Minister Kim Hwang-Sik proposed a special Olympic law to help PyeongChang speed up construction projects for the event. The IOC will announce the winning bid on July 6.

The International Cricket Council (ICC) have launched online ticket sales for the Cricket World Cup semi-finals and final today, pharmacy February 21, and via the ICC’s official ticketing partner Kyazoonga.com

With the demand for tickets for the finale of the ICC’s flagship tournament expected to reach record levels, cough there is sure to be great demand for the proportion of online tickets which will go on sale today at 1pm Indian time (0730 GMT).

Haroon Lorgat, the ICC Chief Executive, said: “From the outset it was always going to be near impossible to satisfy the enormous demand for tickets. But the Central Organising Committee always wanted to provide as many cricket lovers as possible with an opportunity to experience the World Cup. That is why some tickets are now being made available online.

“With the tournament kicking off amidst extraordinary scenes in Dhaka, it was quite amazing to see tens of thousands of passionate supporters in the streets around the Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium soaking up the remarkable atmosphere during the opening ceremony and the first match. All this excitement is causing an unbelievable demand for tickets which clearly outstrips the available supply.

“I am sure that the passion and support for the ICC’s flagship event will grow even further by the time we reach the semi-finals in Colombo and Mohali on 29 and 30 March, respectively and the final at Wankhede Stadium on 2 April. The on-line sales will be followed by a second phase where tickets will be made available to the general public through the stadium box offices.”

National Basketball Association (NBA) reigning champions, denture the Los Angeles Lakers have signed a wide-ranging 20-year broadcast distribution deal with Time Warner Cable.

The agreement, order touted to be unprecedented in terms of length and comprehensiveness, will see Lakers games and content feature on two specially-launched regional sports networks and begin with the launch of the new services at the start of the 2012/13 NBA season.

The Lakers current major broadcast rights holders KCAL Channel 9 and major broadcast partner Fox Sports Net will both be replaced by Time Warner Cable.

No official numbers were released by either party but Tim Harris, vice president of business operations for the Lakers, was quoted by ESPN as saying: “Suffice to say, any sports team in any league in any country if they’re going to be doing a broadcast agreement, there is a component that includes a discussion of economics and economics was something that needed to make sense for the Lakers and it does.”

According to the Los Angeles Times, the Lakers’ previous deal with Fox Sports West was worth some US$30m per year in fees to the franchise. It also said that Time Warner Cable had dismissed outlandish speculation that the new deal could be worth as much as $3bn over two decades once all elements are taken into account.

A source familiar with the structure of such deals suggested that the Lakers could have secured as much as a 50 per cent share in the new channels.

Fox Sports had already admitted that it had tabled a significantly higher offer than its previous agreements with the Lakers in an attempt to renew the rights deal. Its exclusive negotiating period with the Lakers ran out, according to the LA Times, at the end of 2010.

Included in the deal are plans for English and, in a first, Spanish-language networks, which will utilise new facilities in Los Angeles and be made available to all cable distributors in an area including all of Southern California, Nevada and Hawaii.

Broadcast rights to live games, including pre-season, regular season and post-season fixtures, are included where the NBA’s network broadcast contracts allow.

Time Warner Cable chairman and chief executive Glenn Britt stated: “This long-term agreement represents a huge win for all Lakers fans, providing destination channels, more content and more platforms for the Lakers, one of the premier brands in professional sports today.

“It allows us to secure great ‘must-have’ content for our customers in an advantageous arrangement that affords us greater control over our own economic destiny for decades to come.”

Jerry Buss, majority owner of the Lakers expressed his delight, adding: “Time Warner has been producing quality sports programming for over a decade and the Lakers have been producing championship seasons for even longer. I am particularly proud of being part of the first ever Spanish-language RSN in the country. Together I’m confident we will delight our fans.”

The Lakers recently lost its position as the most valuable franchise in the NBA to the New York Knicks after being valued, by Forbes, at US$643 million, a figure that the company now estimate will rise to over $1bn.

International Sports Management Limited (ISM), a UK based player management and events specialist, launched its India operations on Tuesday, 15 February.

Among the company’s client roster are top Indian sports professionals Jeev Milkha Singh , Shiv Kapur and SSP Chowrasia, on its roster. World number one Lee Westwood, three-time Major winner Ernie Els and reigning Open champion Louis Ooosthuizen are also under ISM management. 

Newswire PTI quotes founder Andrew Chandler as saying: “We at ISM have been thinking about India operations for a long time. While cricket has always been very big in India, we have noticed the growth of golf and the way Indian players have made a big impact in world golf.

“We have been managing Jeev Milkha Singh, Shiv Kapur and SSP Chowrasia, all proven champions, but now it is time to more Indian players make a mark outside India.

He added: “Apart from managing players, we also wish to set up with local Indian partners golf academies, help in course design, and promoting new events in this region.”

The India operations will be led by Neeraj Sareen, a former junior amateur golfer, and a regular organiser and promoter of golf events in India.

mayor of Newham borough, Sir Robin Wales has stated that the cuts to council services announced by the Government could jeopardise the London 2012 Olympic legacy after labelling the settlement as “savage, wreckless and callous”.

Every council in England will have to reduce spending from April with Hackney, Tower Hamlets, and Newham – three of the five Olympic boroughs – taking the maximum cut of 8.9% along with 33 others.

Sir Robin Wales stated: “These are savage cuts being implemented by the coalition government. We are having to plan huge reductions in expenditure over the next few years.’

“The Government themselves have admitted that their cuts will be directed mainly against poorer people which means that Newham is being hit more fiercely than better off areas of the country.

“London’s Olympic bid book said the most enduring legacy of the Games must be the regeneration of an entire community for the direct benefit of everyone who lives there.

“For centuries London’s East End has been one of the poorest areas in Europe. The Games have provided a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to transform the lives of residents and nothing should be spared in ensuring that a lasting legacy is achieved.”

It is believed that unprotected services such as play parks, leisure centres and swimming pools most at risk from the inevitable cuts made clear surrounding the funding settlements.

“We are doing everything we can to protect our residents and the services they need and value. We want the Olympics to inspire people and raise their ambitions to be healthier and more prosperous,” he added.

“Newham has been working hard to expand participation in sport and activity through investment in our sports facilities and our promise to continue offering free swims to young people. We are providing the largest programme of free sport and activity in London. We will do our utmost to defend these pioneering initiatives and support hard working low income families.

“Inevitably, however, as we are having to make massive cuts our ability to do that will be limited. The government is already taking the axe to our school sports funding. We fear the coalition’s cuts may have jeopardised the Olympic legacy. I’m shocked at the extent of their callousness. They don’t care about the people.”