BACKGROUND
For the first time in the history of the event, Japan played host to the Rugby World Cup. Twenty teams from around the world played a total of 48 matches at 12 venues across Japan in 2019.
The tournament closed with South Africa beating England in the Final and being crowned champions for the third time, having previously lifted the Webb Ellis Cup in 2007 and 1995.
A total of 1.84 million match tickets were sold to fans attending the tournament with another 1.13 million people filling the official fanzones.
OUR ROLE
Following successful partnerships at previous Rugby World Cups, World Rugby awarded STH Group the exclusive global rights to design, sell and operate the official travel and hospitality programmes.
We opened an office in Tokyo and built a team of local and international travel and hospitality experts, including several specialists from our head office in London who relocated to Japan.
The team developed a wide selection of hospitality packages which exceeded all expectations, ranging from exclusive dinners the night before a match to formal private spaces at a showcase, purpose-built hospitality structure at the International Stadium Yokohama.
With sports hospitality not a concept familiar to Japanese sports fans, STH had to be particularly innovative to market to the host nation’s fans.
STH achieved this by introducing a new premium seating package for the Japanese audience that proved extremely popular and was taken up by more than 33,000 fans. This gave customers a top category seat, bento box with food and drink plus an exclusive event souvenir.
The success of this award-winning product has led to STH launching a similar “Premium” package at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
As part of the agreement with World Rugby, we appointed a limited number of Official Travel Agents (OTAs) from around the world to develop and sell match ticket-inclusive supporter tour packages in their territory. This resulted in more than 400,000 international visitors travelling to Japan for the tournament.
RESULTS
More than 400,000 international visitors travelled to Japan for the tournament as part of the official travel programme
Over 65,000 customers from around the world enjoyed the unique and innovative hospitality services created by the STH team
Approximately 33,000 Premium Seating Packages were sold, with the bento box included as part of the hospitality service
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Our world class sports and hospitality services ensure spectators can completely immerse themselves in the passion and drama of the occasion and enjoy a shared experience they will remember for a lifetime.
STH is a partner that you can trust. With the strong backing of our shareholders Sodexo, the foundations of our business is secure, and their expertise is also called upon when required to further enhance the professionalism and expertise we bring.
We are industry leading, innovative and trustworthy, with a long and enviable track record of consistent excellence across some of the biggest sporting events in the world.
