Northstar Travel Group, parent of WIT, has expanded its portfolio with the acquisition of publications SportsTravel and Association News, as well as the conference series, TEAMS Conference + Expo and Meetings Quest from Schneider Publishing.
The purchase also includes the rights to the Shamrock Shootout Golf Classic, the longest-running golf tournament in the hospitality industry. The event was named the exclusive golf tournament of the IMEX America trade show, which will be held from October 1 –12 in Las Vegas.
Timothy Schneider, president and CEO of Schneider Publishing, joins Northstar Travel Group as founder and chairman of the company’s new Sports Division. The division will be part of Northstar’s Meetings Group, which includes publications Meetings & Conventions, Successful Meetings, Meeting News and Incentive, plus the group’s integrated data, digital and in-person event platforms.
Tom Kemp: Acquisition to transform Northstar into a marketing solutions company
“Schneider Publishing’s SportsTravel brand and their TEAMS Conference have built a reputation as a key partner to sports-event organisers and the destinations and hoteliers who serve them. This acquisition is another important step in the transformation of Northstar into a marketing solutions company serving all key segments of the travel and meetings industries,” said Tom Kemp, chairman and CEO of Northstar Travel Group.
David Blansfield, executive vice president and group publisher of Northstar’s Meetings Group, added: “Our strategy to serve the widest variety of meeting planners, and the suppliers who serve them, is further enhanced with the addition of Association News and the Meetings Quest conferences.”
Schneider said: “Finding the right strategic partner with the necessary capabilities over a range of areas – event management, digital media and database marketing, to name a few – was important to me to scale the business.”
TEAMS is the world’s leading conference and expo for the sports-event industry. Presented in association with SportsTravel, TEAMS ’17 will be held October 30-November 2 in Orlando.
TEAMS ’17 will be held in Orlando
Launched in 1998, TEAMS attracts more than 1,000 attendees including CEOs, executive directors and event managers from sports organisations as well as representatives from sports commissions and convention bureaus, corporate sponsors and event suppliers.
Meetings Quest, the live-show counterpart to Association News, is the longest-running series of trade shows for meeting planners in the U.S.
