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The contract gives Thomson Sport the official tour operating programme rights across all the qualified European territories (excluding the host countries) with access to a guaranteed allocation of match tickets.
As part of the agreement, Thomson Sport will operate the England and Republic of Ireland programmes and will appoint other TUI Travel PLC tour operators and partners across each qualified European territory the license to distribute fan travel packages to their respective markets.
Marc Bennett, Managing Director of TUI Travel’s Sport Division, which includes Thomson Sport, says, "We have a proven track record of delivering both quality and value at a variety of sporting events and are delighted to be appointed as Licensed Tour Operator for such a large scale and popular tournament. We look forward to ensuring fans will be able to relax and enjoy the tournament, knowing our experience means they are in trusted and capable hands.
"With Thomson Sport being part of a global organisation, we are also able to draw on a much larger network of travel businesses who will be working together to make sure fans get the best experience possible."
This appointment builds on Thomson Sport’s existing football contracts including the official Accommodation Agency for UEFA EURO 2012 for officials, media representatives and commercial partners and the official englandfans overseas provider for The FA. Thomson Sport was also an official tour operator for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
More than 1.4 million supporters are expected to travel to Poland and Ukraine for the 14th UEFA European Football Championship between 8 June and 1 July 2012. With 31 matches in eight stadiums – Gdansk, Poznan, Warsaw and Wroclaw in Poland and Donetsk, Lviv, Kharkiv and Kyiv in Ukraine – the competition is expected to be as intense as ever. This will be the last time just 16 teams compete in the final tournament as the number is set to increase to 24 in 2016.
Full package details will be announced following the draw for the final tournament on 2 December 2011.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
