• Prioritising events which will generate the greatest returns in terms of economic benefit, the promotion of the South West and the development of sports participation
• Ensuring that the events make the best use of the environment and other assets of the South West
• Promoting collaborative working amongst all relevant South West agencies to support the development and sourcing of major events.

Vision of the StrategyThe vision of the strategy is simple and clear. It is to win or create more major sports events for the South West which deliver real benefits for the regional economy, the promotion of the region and for sport.

Key Strategic Goals
In order to achieve this vision, this strategy has three key strategic goals:

1. To provide proactive strategic leadership of major sports events activity in the South West

2. To build an expanded major sports events portfolio which reflects the events policy and makes the optimum use of the environment and other assets of the region

3. To maximise the quantifiable benefits from investments in major sports events

EVENT CATEGORIES
In terms of the South West, events fall broadly into four categories: 

• Mega Events
• Major Events
• Other Events

Mega Events
Mega events are significant multi-day events that will give the highest world-wide profile for the South West and generate significant economic impact through large numbers of visitors.

• These events can be expected to require significant levels of investment both in facilities and organisation. They will generally also require major advance commitment to a bidding process , extensive feasibility work and infrastructure development.
• The Artemis Transat 2008 will certainly fall into this category as has the Olympic Regatta in 2012. Consideration will be given to pursuing a number of mega events which are open to bidding. These could include the ISAF World Sailing Events, FINA World Swimming, ITU Triathalon, Extreme Sports, ASP Surfing, PWA Windsurfing, PKRA Kiteboarding and WSKA Kayaking events.

Major Events

• Major events include a number of events that are held on an annual basis in the South West and generate large numbers of day visitors and overnight stays with the potential to generate significant international profile and visitor numbers.
• The growth of a regular collection of events at this level will have a long-term and significant economic impact in the region.

Other Events

• There will be unique events from time to time with relatively small numbers of visitors or participants which, because of their media coverage and their ability to project the South West internationally, should still be considered to be a priority by the key partners in this strategy.