The crowd goes wild! Giant airport billboard welcomes sporting heroes

In the lead up to the International Paralympic Committee Athletics World Championships to be held in Christchurch in January, a gigantic billboard is being installed at Christchurch Airport to welcome the athletics representatives to the South Island.

The billboard, welcoming ‘the best athletes to the best of New Zealand’, features hundreds of sports fans celebrating, and, at 100sqm, will cover an entire side of the airport car park building.  Installation is underway, one level at a time starting on the ground floor, and will be completed on Tuesday.

Following the IPC championships, the billboard will be updated to welcome players and supporters for next year’s big rugby event.

CIAL General Manager Marketing and Business Development, Gareth Owen, said the airport is looking forward to kick-starting celebrations of the two high profile sporting events planned for Christchurch in 2011. 

“We’ve chosen the highest profile site on the airport to welcome the large number of international delegates and fans coming to Christchurch during the year, and to celebrate what this means for the South Island – an enormous increase in tourism, and a festive mood throughout the year”, he says.

The billboard is just the start of a wider theming project at the airport for the world’s biggest rugby event.  Visitors to Christchurch Airport, New Zealand’s tourism gateway, will be welcomed by unique rugby imagery from around the South Island’s scenic rugby fields. 

For details of this photo opportunity, please contact Chelsea Halliwell on 021 0208 8088.