THERE was a definite buzz at last month’s Gulf Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition (GIBTM) 2009, confirmed by the organisers who welcomed a record number of exhibitors, hosted buyers and trade visitors.
The pre-audited figures showed a total visitor attendance of 1,904, which includes 236 hosted buyers, an increase of 15 per cent on 2008. Exhibitors increased to 768 attending personnel, and 6,390 pre-scheduled appointments were undertaken at the event - up 23% on 2008.
Feedback from the show was generally positive. Selim El Zyr, president and CEO of Rotana, which has been present at GIBTM since it started was pleased with Abu Dhabi hosting an important exhibition such as GIBTM, which has been supporting the development of MICE business.
New exhibitors this year included Sin Chen, project leader, Taiwan Bureau of Foreign Trade, who said, “We are exploring this part of the world, this was an investment for us to introduce Taiwan to a new region. The results have been fantastic, the quality of buyer was way above other trade shows, and we have been overwhelmed with appointments. We didn’t really expect to get any business from our first visit, but the whole experience means we will now definitely be back in 2010.”
“This is my first time at GIBTM. This is an amazing exhibition centre and with the support of ADTA I can see this event is going to keep getting better and better. Next year we hope to quadruple our stand,” said Richard W Riley, chief executive officer, Abu Dhabi National Hotels.
Keynote speaker at GIBTM was Rohit Talwar, CEO, Fast Future Research, who said, “This years’ show was an important event in many respects - I think it highlights the growing recognition of the importance of the sector in the region. The presentation of solid research on both current planner behaviours and future trends provided a rigorous intellectual underpinning to the event.”
Of the 120 hosted buyers attending the exhibition, French buyer François-Xavier Morel, found that news gleaned at the show regarding the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi Museum and Louvre Abu Dhabi planned for Saadiyat Island, was the visit’s highlight.
“These will make an enormous amount of difference to our ability to attract European clients here,” he said. “I also found the people here very helpful and was impressed by the safety of the destination – which is a big factor in attracting tourism business these days.”
Heather Douglas of Canada’s Maritz had some reservations on what Abu Dhabi would be like but soon discovered that these were uncalled for.
Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque for instance, was “truly amazing ... it is without doubt one of the loveliest buildings I have seen anywhere”.
From Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts, Toufic Tamim, vice president sales and marketing Middle East found GIBTM a great success. “We are happy that we participated despite our initial reservations that there would be little demand due to the current economical recession.
He felt that many at the show were taking a “ ‘wait and see’ approach, at least for the coming six months with many leads coming in for October and beyond, but there was a cautious optimism for the last quarter of this year in terms of business pick up”.
Graeme Barnett, event director announced that GIBTM 2010 will take place from March 29 to 31 at ADNEC, Abu Dhabi.
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The destination offered much more than I had ever anticipated and it has definite potential for incentives and conferences with absolutely first-class facilities. It is a destination for meetings clients who are looking for more exotic experiences – it is going to turn a lot of heads.”
Douglas
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“We have always been very active with the promotion of our MICE properties and our participation at GIBTM helped us in further developing this sector and showcasing our products and offerings.”
El Zyr
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“The education sessions offered a lot of very solid content of value to planners and the opportunity for rigorous debate around the issues of importance. The announcement of the Advantage Abu Dhabi initiative captured the imagination and helped people realise how strategic the sector is to national economic planning,”
Talwar
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“We are delighted. One of our aims since we first launched the show in 2007 was to drive the development of the meetings industry in the region and I think what we’ve seen this week is the culmination of three years work with everyone involved.”
Barnett
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“Europe is also playing the ‘wait and see’ game although they do consider the Middle East a viable mid-haul destination for the incentive market. What was interesting to note is the increase in interest for cultural destinations such as Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt for classical incentives from the European buyers.”
Tamim