BERLIN (Reuters) – The International Olympic Committee has named hospitality firm On Location as their exclusive global hospitality provider for all summer and winter Olympic and Paralympic Games until 2028, it said on Wednesday.
The IOC traditionally worked with authorised ticket resellers (ATRs) in several territories or countries to provide hospitality and ticketing services to fans wanting to attend the Olympics.
“On Location will deliver world-class hospitality experiences for fans and Olympic stakeholders alike, with packages including tickets, travel, accommodation and unique in-venue and host city hospitality,” the IOC said.
IOC President Bach said the new hospitality model that will operate from the 2024 summer Olympics onwards and will include the 2026 winter Games in Milan and Cortina D’Ampezzo as well as the 2028 Los Angeles summer Olympics was more efficient and also easier for Games organising committees.
“This new solution will deliver a simplified, secure process for fans around the world to attend the Games,” Bach said in a statement.
“The centralisation of the project also contributes greatly to better oversight and, with this, to good governance.”
The Olympics normally attract hundreds of thousands of foreign visitors to both the city as well as the sports venues but the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, postponed last year due to the pandemic, will start in July with either no or only a limited number of local fans.
Foreign visitors have been banned and had to get their ticket costs refunded.
(Reporting by Karolos Grohmann; editing by Jason Neely)