At the World Travel Market (WTM) in London, one of Mallorca's key promotional messages has concerned sports tourism. The slogan "a year round training ground" has been adopted to highlight the island's great advantages for sport in general and for training specifically, be this for professional or amateur teams and athletes.
The WTM has offered the perfect opportunity to highlight the international sports events that are held in Mallorca; the island is constantly strengthening its claims as an international sports venue. These events include the Mallorca Open Golf, the Mallorca Championships (ATP tennis), the Mallorca Challenge and the UCI Track Championship cycling events, the Zafiro Palma Marathon and the Ironman 70.3 in Alcudia.
On Tuesday evening, the Council of Mallorca hosted an event that was the culmination of this promotional drive in London. Held at the prestigious Sky Garden, some 120 people were invited, mostly journalists. President Armengol attended, as did the president of the Council of Mallorca, Catalina Cladera, the councillor for tourism, Andreu Serra, and the rest of Mallorca's delegation.
The event featured a panel presentation with British Olympic cyclist Sir Chris Hoy; Marcel Wüst, the German cyclist with victories in the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta; Simon Cory Wright, head of tourism at the PGA golf organization; and Joan Suasi of the Rafa Nadal Academy. The roundtable was moderated by BBC presenter and former president of the British Travel Writers Guild in London, Martin Roberts. In addition, Olympic cyclist Mark Cavendish sent a video message.