THE TRINIDAD and Tobago Olympic Committee (TTOC) has announced a partnership with Cartan Global, the exclusive authorised ticket reseller for Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
In a media conference yesterday at the Olympic House, Abercromby Street, Port-of-Spain, TTO C president Brian Lewis said, “they are a company that has been around since 1899 and they represent (35) National Olympic Committees, in terms of being an authorised ticket reseller.
“They have been with us since 2008 and they are a critical part of us taking our whole commercial and marketing revenue generation programme,” he continued.
“We want to build the support for travel for the Games to represent Trinidad and Tobago.” Jay Price, Managing Director of Cartan, commented, “(ticket) sales have started already. Tickets were open to the public beginning in July 17.” About the global public’s response, Price stated, “most of our countries are in the Caribbean and Latin America and I think we’re in a proximity where there is a lot of interest in Rio. So we’ve done very well. We’ve gotten a lot of responses.” There has been conjecture over the state of readiness for the venues in Rio de Janeiro, but Price pointed out, “I think people have short memories. In every single Olympics, this has been the scenario.
“I’ve been down there, I’ve seen the progress, things are coming along very nicely,” he added.
“They are a little behind schedule but that seems to be the case in every Olympics. We’re not concerned.” In related news, Lewis disclosed that 2004 Olympic bronze medallist, swimmer George Bovell III, and sailor Andrew Lewis have earned qualifying standards for the Rio Games, and the top local sailor will be heading to Rio this weekend to undergo training sessions, with TTO C support.
“In the context of the whole team Trinidad and Tobago, it is important in terms of (us) trying to build new fans and get the existing fans to interact and support the team, and have that experience of travelling to Games to support (the team),” the TTO C boss noted.
“In terms of these type of programmes, I’m proud to say that 100 percent of the revenue generated will go towards the ten or more Olympic gold medals by Olympics 2024 Preparations Fund,” Lewis continued. “It’s all about our athletes. It’s all about raising revenue.