THE presence and performance of travel trade shows are surely an indication of the importance of tourism and a clear sign that a country has developed the industry sufficiently to merit the interest of other regions and indeed the international tourism market.
It is testimony to the huge importance of the industry that despite the global economic downturn, new shows are setting up and developing markets are seeing their events grow year on year.
Azerbaijan, in Eastern Europe, Kazakhstan in Central Asia and even Siberia, in the heart of Russia, are all markets with travel shows that are going from strength to strength. The International Tourism Trade Fairs Association (ITTFA) looks at its member shows in these areas and at how they are prospering.
AITF, run by the ITE Group and held in Baku, is Azerbaijan’s largest exhibition for the tourism industry with more than 4,000 sq m of space. The event celebrates its 10th anniversary this year and has grown considerably since its launch, with an increase of 20 per cent in space in last year. AITF caters for both the tourism trade and consumers. In 2010, 72 per cent of visitors, more than 7,600, were tourist industry professionals.
Azerbaijan is the largest country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia and tourism is an important part of the economy. Following the Nagorno-Karabakh War in the 1990s, tourism was crippled and it is only in the last decade that the industry has begun to recover. The country has since experienced a high rate of growth in the number of tourist visits and overnight stays and in recent years, has also become a popular destination for religious, spa, and health care tourism.
Azerbaijan’s outbound tourism industry is growing at an even more rapid rate due to increases in disposable income.
ITE also operates two shows in Kazakhstan, KITF and Astana Leisure. One could say they are competing shows but they have been running happily alongside each other for seven years now so there appears to be enough demand in the market for both.
KITF is the more established and larger show, with 8,000 sq m of space and 500 exhibitors. Held in Almaty, the show runs its 11th edition this April and is organised jointly with the Ministry of Tourism & Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan. According to the ministry, outbound tourism increased by 23 per cent in 2009 – generating a total of 3,687,000 Kazakh tourists. Online bookings are also growing in Kazakhstan, particularly in its main cities of Almaty and Astana. In fact, online transactions for air travel are forecasted to record double-digit annual growth to 2013.
Astana became the capital of Kazakhstan in 1997 and is the second largest city after Almaty. By offering a second travel event, Astana Leisure, companies now have an opportunity to promote themselves in both of the country’s two major cities,. Astana Leisure continues to grow year on year and last year covered 700 sq m attracting more than 2,700 visitors.
Maria Badakh, head of sales for the ITE Group and also current ITTFA president, said: “All of these markets offer high-spending tourists, so we have a lot of interest from many luxury destinations and properties around the world. I have noticed that in the past few years we have a considerable number of new exhibitors from exotic destinations such as South America, Asia and Africa. A very important factor is that many countries have cancelled visas for Russians and this has definitely improved the tourism flow.” There are currently seven travel trade shows in the ITE portfolio.
Moving North, TourSib focuses on the Siberian region of Russia. For more than 20 years, TourSib has served the travel and tourism industry in Siberia. Held in Novosibirsk, it offers almost 5,000 sq m of space with 240 exhibitors from 21 destinations. Initially it may seem like a hard sell destination for inbound but things look set to change. The area has been steadily growing in popularity among adventurous travellers and in October last year Hilton opened the city of Novosibirsk’s first internationally-branded hotel and it seems other international hotel chains, InterContinental, Accor and Swissotel, have properties in the pipeline too.
Maria Badakh says that Turkey is a key destination for the whole region, as is Dubai in the UAE. There is clearly potential in all these markets and the shows, three of which are held next month, would definitely be worth a visit.
ITTFA comment