MESSE Berlin, organisers of ITB Asia, plan to increase overall exhibition floor space by 15 per cent in 2012 and move to level 4 of Suntec Singapore from level 6 after a record show this year. The fourth edition of ITB Asia, held last month, attracted 7,511 trade visitors, an increase of around 14 per cent from last year, representing 91 countries, 50 per cent more compared to 2010.
Nino Gruettke, executive director of ITB Asia, says: “Altogether we have had trade visitors from over 90 different countries compared to over 60 last year. We also saw a total of 621 buyers. A majority are from Asia Pacific (60 per cent) followed by Europe (27 per cent) Middle East and American both at 6 per cent and five per cent respectively and one per cent from Africa. 220 were first-time buyers. We have also had walk-ins – buyers that are not on our pre-scheduled programme those that want to be independent.”
“This is a very good sign because over the next ten years, my goal is to not have a single hosted buyer but that they come because they need to be here. I don’t think the strength of a show is dependent on the number of hosted buyers going up, but going down, as it shows they want and need to be at the event. Our first time exhibitors are very happy and most have already signed up for next year. A good number of exhibitors want to increase the size of their stands.”
Exhibitors from over 70 countries were represented at this year’s event from as far as Botswana, Finland, Croatia and Iraq as well as partner country Japan who reported an increase in business activity at ITB Asia 2011, reiterating the strength of the regional travel industry despite economic uncertainties.
Japan was the official partner country at ITB Asia 2011. “ITB Asia has served a good platform to spur on Japan’s recovery from the aftermath of the March earthquake and tsunami and we look forward to the show next year,” said Hiroshi Mizohata, commissioner, Japan Tourism Agency.
First time exhibitor and official partner hotel Hilton Worldwide has also pledged to return next year after a successful show. “Our first partnership with ITB Asia this year, both as a key exhibitor and the inaugural office hotel partner has reaped great success for us. We were able to showcase our portfolio of 10 award-winning brands prominently at our booth, as well as gain insights through our participation in a series of informative panel sessions,” said Philippe Garnier, vice-president, sales and regional marketing - Asia Pacific, Hilton Worldwide.
Gruettke said that as a young show, it has been difficult to tap markets like China, Hong Kong. “I think they still see us a young brand and they have their established trade shows but we hope to see participation from them next year. China too is a tricky market to tap into. They would prefer that we took ITB Asia to China, but we didn’t want to do that as it would be labelled as a Chinese trade show.”
While the UAE was present from the Middle East, Gruettke is keen to get more exhibitors from the region. “I think once there is stability, this will change. It is also like a testing of the waters with a young show. The first year we had a problem with our hosted buyer programme as it was new to us, and then the second year was the global financial crises so a lot of big companies withdrew.”
This saw a number of changes and enhancements. The organisers introduced a new category of partially hosted buyers, targeted at those with tight travelling schedules. In all, there were about 600 buyers at the event.
“The private sector in Sabah seldom has the opportunity to network in the kind of business to business environment that ITB Asia provides. So the prospect of meeting with this level of buyers in one place is most welcome. We had five industry partners this year and their appointments have been very promising,” said Noredah Othman, senior marketing manager, Sabah Tourism Board, Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Environment.
“We’ve had very positive feedback from our industry partners participating in ITB Asia 2011. We actually received requests from about 100 travel industry players who wanted to attend ITB Asia but due to budget constraints, we were only able to accommodate 50 participants. We will definitely look at how we can increase the level of participation for next year,” said Nia Niscaya, director of international tourism promotion at Indonesia’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism.
This year’s show also had the largest conference line-up ever including the inaugural TTG Asia Travel Agency conference, the second edition of Association Day as well as panel sessions on Loyalty Programmes, Boutique Hotels and Women in Action.
“This year, we set out to build the show as a key knowledge platform by boosting our conference component. It is extremely encouraging to note that we achieved strong attendance figures of 150 to 200 delegates on average for each session, with positive feedback about the quality of speakers and insights generated from these sessions. We will definitely continue on this focus moving forward and delegates can look forward to even more robust conference programmes in future,” added Gruettke.
For 2012, the show has been brought forward to October 3-5, 2012 on the request of buyers, delegates and exhibitors.