THREE days of strong business opportunities and connections saw EIBTM 2011, the annual international event for the meetings industry, break all its previous records. Pre-show expectations were more than met with 64,950 Hosted Buyer pre-scheduled appointments leading the way to substantial business being conducted on the exhibition floor.
“Globally, this industry is responsible for 1.7million jobs and $106 billion of GDP. Our role is to provide the platform and environment for the sector to meet and conduct business. Ultimately we believe we have achieved that and more and delivered value and profitable results for our customers” commented Graeme Barnett, EIBTM event director.
As the show closed doors it was recorded that over 15,300 meetings industry professionals attended the three days including a total visitor and buyer attendance of 9,262 (last year’s audited numbers were 8,395), 10.3 per cent up on 2010, of which 3,904 were Hosted Buyers (last year’s audited numbers were 3,963) delivering a nine per cent increase on Hosted Buyer attendance from 2010.
With more than 100 Professional education sessions, this year’s edition of EIBTM saw over 3,000 delegates attend seminars including those held in the Future Events Experience. Eric Bakermans, Meetings & Conventions marketing manager, Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions summed up many exhibitors’ experiences of the business taking place on the show floor. “We have been sold out solid, which means that EIBTM offers excellent business opportunities for the Dutch Business Events industry.”
“We have always managed to close a lot of business at EIBTM, but this year it has been especially encouraging. To start with, it is very well organized and on top of that we have more than 80 per cent of the appointments and had more contacts than last year. We have also closed group bookings of approximately 2000 persons in various groups for 2012” added Esteban Miso, Solways Group, congress & incentives department.
Dee McGuiness, director of business development and strategy for Gulf Hotel Bahrain, said, “I have been approached for lucrative business pertaining to prominent sectors in Bahrain notably Healthcare and education segment for 2013, 2014 and 2015 so looking ahead it is very positive. There was also a lot of interest for Formula One, predominantly from Germany and the UK. New agents are looking to send clients to Bahrain for the first time, so that is really positive.”
Bahrain who had stopped participating at EIBTM returned this year with a new strategy. Nada Ahmed Yaseen, acting asst. undersecretary Tourism Sector for Bahrain Ministry of Information Tourism Affairs said, “We have come back to Barcelona, which we and our participating partners have found to be an effective event. I would add that this participation puts Bahrain on the right track for Mice business and introduces to the world what Bahrain has to offer in terms of infrastructure for international events, conferences as well as showcase that we are ready for their Mice business.
“We have also been happy to announce at our group presentations that Manama has been selected as the Arab Capital of Culture for 2012 as well as Capital of Arab Tourism for 2013 which shows that Bahrain has all the available resources to held key events. ”
Returning after five years, exhibitor Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces said EIBTM met their business objectives. “The most important thing this year was to show our brand and educate clients, we are very satisfied by the appointments we have had, the high quality of Hosted Buyers and the incentive groups that we have closed with Italy and Belgium” said Kenny Teo, director of sales.
“Barcelona certainly delivered the show we were really hoping for this year and we couldn’t have had better weather to lift the spirits for this industry. Despite the global economic turmoil, the quality and professionalism of those determined to do business and drive the industry forward is testament to why this year’s event has been such a success” added Barnett.
The next edition of EIBTM will take place from November 27-29, 2012.