The View From The Shard Reveals Plans For World Travel Market 2012

Thu, Sep 27, 2012 17:38 CET

The View from The Shard - the new premium visitor experience at the pinnacle of The Shard - London’s newest landmark, and Western Europe’s tallest building - will be at WTM for the first time in 2012 ahead of its opening on 1 Feb. 2013: Stand number L315.
Visit The View from The Shard: Exclusive ‘work in progress’ preview opportunities for journalists and tour operators to visit the attraction during WTM and experience London like never before, with spectacular 64km (40 mile), 360-degree views of the city, 244m (800ft) above the capital.
Quiz the team: Regular briefings will be held on stand L315 from The View’s senior team including representatives from the Renzo Piano Building Workshop (The Shard’s architect) and visitor experience designers Event Communications. New CGI films of the attraction will be shown.
Tour operator competition: Tour operators and travel agents who visit the stand will have the chance to win a pair of tickets to The View from The Shard and dinner for two at nearby restaurant, Roast.
The Shard by boat: Travel in style from central London to ExCeL on Tuesday 6 November and enjoy breathtaking views of The Shard on the way.

Press images: bit.ly/LuoPvl

The View from The Shard is the new premium visitor experience at the pinnacle of The Shard, London’s newest landmark, Britain’s first vertical town and Western Europe’s tallest building. The attraction opens to the public on 1 February 2013. Tickets are on sale now at www.theviewfromtheshard.com.

The View from The Shard provides the most spectacular 64km (40 mile), 360-degree views of the capital. Almost twice as high as any other viewing point in London, The View from The Shard is the only place you can see all of London, all at once, making it the perfect first stop for visitors to the city. The attraction is much more than an astonishing view. It provides a unique encounter with The Shard and offers an immersive experience of one of the greatest cities on earth.

The View from the Shard at World Travel Market 2012
This year, The View from The Shard will be at World Travel Market (WTM) for the very first time. To celebrate its arrival as a major new attraction and destination in the UK travel market, The View from The Shard is undertaking a wide range of activity, including the opportunity to visit the attraction, win tickets for the opening day and attend senior level briefings:

1. Media visits to The View from The Shard
Journalists attending WTM have the exclusive opportunity to join a ‘work in progress’ tour of The View from The Shard – a chance to witness the visitor attraction taking shape, and experience unrivalled views of London, before it opens to the public in February 2013. Tours start at 0800hrs every morning and run through the day. The main tour will take place each day after WTM with special transport from ExCeL. Journalists will be picked up at 1700hrs each day in a special bus run by Golden Tours, complete with The View from The Shard branding. They will be transported from WTM to the Shard and then are free to enjoy London. Journalists interested in attending tours must book in advance online here: http://bit.ly/QHePBe

2. Senior level briefings on stand L315 for press and delegates (5 – 7 Nov).
A rolling programme of briefings for media and travel trade from the senior team at the attraction will take place on The View from The Shard’s stand (L315) throughout WTM. The speakers will include Anders Nyberg, CEO, The View from The Shard, William Mathews, The Shard’s Project Architect for Renzo Piano Building Workshop, and representatives from Event Communications - the attraction’s designers. The briefings will show CGI footage of the attraction and offer the opportunity to try one of the high-tech, interactive digital ‘Tell:scopes’ that will be installed in The View from The Shard providing access to alternative day and night views of the city, and information about surrounding landmarks in 10 languages. The View from The Shard is the first attraction in Europe to offer these state of the art Tell:scopes.

Briefings:

0900hrs, Monday 5 November: WTM press wall in the WTM media centre.
1500hrs, Monday 5 November: Stand L315
1100hrs and 1500hrs Tuesday 6 November: Stand L315
1000hrs Wednesday 7 November: WTM press wall in the WTM media centre.
1100hrs and 1500hrs Wednesday 7 November: Stand L315

3.    Travel Trade Tours during WTM and January 2013
The View from The Shard is offering travel trade and tour operators free access to the attraction from 21 – 24 January 2013, enabling them to experience the completed attraction before it opens to the public. Exclusive ‘work in progress’ preview opportunities will also be provided to travel trade operators during and post WTM. Companies interested in visiting during January or WTM should speak to Ana Araque, Travel Trade Marketing Manager, at The View from The Shard’s stand L315 or email traveltrade@theviewfromtheshard.com

4.    Win tickets to the opening day of The View from The Shard and a meal at Roast.
The View from The Shard opens on 1 February 2013. Every day at WTM, tour operators will have the chance to win a pair of tickets for the first day of opening PLUS a meal for two at the neighbouring, highly acclaimed, Roast restaurant. Visit The View from The Shard’s stand to enter the prize draw. The winners will be announced at 1600hrs daily on the stand from 5 – 8 November.

5.    The Shard by Boat: Travel to WTM in style along The Thames, luxury boat ride from central London to ExCeL, Tuesday 6 November
The View from The Shard, in association with City Cruises, is providing a luxury cruising boat - The Millennium Diamond - to take WTM delegates and press along the Thames from central London to WTM on the morning of Tuesday 6 November. The trip, including breakfast, will provide the opportunity to meet the team from The View from The Shard and experience the sights of London, including The Shard, from the Thames. The boat will depart from Tower Pier (7am registration). WTM delegates should confirm their place by emailing traveltrade@theviewfromtheshard.com. [WTM journalist can confirm their place here: http://bit.ly/QHePBe].

6.     New Travel Trade Twitter Account Created
Stay up to date with The View from The Shard during WTM as well as the latest travel news and trade announcements from The View from The Shard’s new travel trade twitter account, created especially for WTM. @ShardViewWTM.

Anders Nyberg, CEO, The View from The Shard said “Bringing The View from The Shard to World Travel Market for the first time is hugely exciting. We have developed a remarkable new attraction that will transform how people experience London and is set to become a major new visitor destination for the capital. WTM is a wonderful opportunity for us to reveal the full extent of the attraction and its cutting edge technology to the travel trade for the first time. We hope to welcome many people to our stand at WTM and look forward to finding out how we can work together.”

END

Press images
Images of The Shard and The View from The Shard: bit.ly/LuoPvl

Press contacts
Kallaway PR
William Kallaway: +44 (0)20 7221 7883 / william.kallaway@kallaway.com
Nazneen Nawaz: +44 (0)20 7221 7883 / nazneen.nawaz@kallaway.com
Susannah Glynn: +44 (0)20 7221 7883 / susannah.glynn@kallaway.com

The View from The Shard
Ruth Howlett, Head of PR +44 (0)20 31023973 ruth.howlett@shardlondonbridge.com

About the View from the Shard
The View from The Shard is the new premium visitor attraction at the top of The Shard, Western Europe’s tallest building and London’s newest landmark. The View from The Shard opens to visitors for the first time on 1 February 2013. Tickets are on sale now from the website www.theviewfromtheshard.com and NEW gift vouchers – presented in the form of smart ‘Gift Certificates’ – will be available to buy from 15 October 2012.

The View from The Shard provides the most spectacular 64km (40 mile), 360-degree views of the capital. Almost twice as high as any other viewing point in London, The View from The Shard is the only place you can see all of London, all at once, making it the perfect first stop for visitors to the city.

The attraction is much more than an astonishing view. It provides a unique encounter with The Shard and offers an immersive, multisensory experience of one of the greatest cities on earth. As guests travel through the attraction the story of London is brought to life through evocative multimedia displays and state of the art technology, including unique super-fast lifts which take them on a journey through the capital’s skyline, building excitement about the opportunity of having the entire city at their feet.

Arriving at the viewing galleries on Level 69, guests will have 1,000 years of history and some of the most iconic buildings in the world laid out beneath them. High-tech, interactive digital ‘Tell:scopes’ enable guests to explore the cityscape in every direction, providing information about surrounding landmarks and access to alternative day and night-time views of London. The View from The Shard is the first attraction in Europe to offer these technologically advanced Tell:scopes which will be available to guests in 10 languages.

From the viewing galleries, guests can ascend even higher to Level 72 for a truly remarkable experience, 800ft or 244m above ground. Here, at the highest accessible point of The Shard, guests can stand in the open air, overlooking the city, surrounded by the giant shards of glass that form this sculptural building as they disappear into the sky.

Tickets and NEW Gift Certificates:
For the best possible experience, with no queues or crowds, tickets to The View from The Shard must be pre-booked with guests choosing the time and date that suits them best for their visit. The new Gift Certificates, available from 15 October, enables tickets to be given as a present but allows the recipient to choose when they would like to visit.

Advance tickets and Gift Certificates cost £24.95 for adults and £18.95 for children. Tickets (and Gift Certificates from 15 October) can be purchased from the website www.theviewfromtheshard.com or via the telephone hotline: +44 (0)844 499 7111 (a handling fee applies for telephone bookings only).

Renzo Piano, the Master Architect who created The Shard, is personally involved in developing the content of the visitor experience, working in collaboration with exhibition design consultancy, Event Communications.

Public booking information for The View from The Shard
The View from The Shard will be open from 0900 – 2200hrs daily (except 25 December). The entrance will be located on Joiner Street, London, SE1. The nearest tube/rail station is London Bridge. The attraction is located on bus routes 43, 48, 141, 149, 521. Public information email: info@theviewfromtheshard.com

About The Shard
The Shard (www.the-shard.com) is a landmark building on the London skyline, designed by Master Architect Renzo Piano and is the UK’s first vertical city. At a height of 1,016 ft (310 m) the building redefines London’s skyline and will be a dynamic symbol of the Capital, recognisable throughout the world. Located in the historic London Bridge Quarter in the heart of London, The Shard sits centrally between the West End, Westminster, the South Bank, the City and Canary Wharf.

The name ‘Shard’ comes from its sculpted design, which consists of glass facets that incline inwards but do not meet at the top, but instead open to the sky to allow the building to breathe naturally. London church spires and masts of ships which once anchored on the River Thames inspired the elegant building. The Shard is a vertical city with high-quality offices, international restaurants, the 5-star Shangri-La hotel, exclusive residences and The View from The Shard.

- END TO ALL -