| AT THE ROGERS CUP WITH EMIRATES | | Jovana Arnaut |
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| Don McWilliam, country manager, Canada, Emirates, with Emirates flight attendants |
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As one of the official sponsors of the Rogers Cup, Emirates invited guests to its private suite inside the Rexall Centre at York University in Toronto.
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| Don McWilliam, country manager, Canada, Emirates |
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On Friday, Aug. 10, TRAVELHotNews.com was invited to the matinee session which included matches between Richard Gasquet and Tomas Berdych; and Novak Djokovic and Sam Querrey.
Don McWilliam, country manager, Canada, Emirates, said that the airline hosts a number of sessions throughout the week and guests include customers, suppliers and the travel agent community.
“We are one of the key sponsors for the Rogers Cup and we were recently named the title sponsor for the US Open in New York,” he said. “Tennis is very much a part of the overall sponsorship for Emirates... We see this as a tremendous opportunity to reach consumers as well as market our product.”
Along with hosting, Emirates also held its annual Racquet Return Program. Visitors were encouraged to bring in their used tennis racquets, which were collected by Emirates representatives and donated to 4,500 of Toronto’s inner-city youth.
The airline also gave away $10,000 worth of junior sized racquets to local charities.
The unpredictable weather put several kinks in the Rogers Cup, which ran from Aug. 4 – 12. The match between Djokovic and Querrey was halted because of a downpour. Many of the matches throughout the tournament were cancelled or rescheduled. Several players were forced to play twice on Friday and late into Sunday night. In the end, Djokovic came out on top, winning his second straight cup over Gasquet.
McWilliam said the weather didn’t dampen the mood inside the Emirates suite.
“We didn’t have any matches yesterday,” he said. “But, I must say our customers still enjoyed the suite, we have a great sushi chef and nice facilities. For both of the sessions we still had about 75 to 80 per cent of our guests show up. It actually worked out for us better from a networking perspective.”
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