DESTINATION Britain & Ireland (Debi), the business-to-business travel trade event of VisitBritain and Tourism Ireland, saw 22 new companies from the UK and Ireland showcasing their latest tourism offerings to APMEA (Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa) visitors.
Now in its ninth year, Debi 2012 was held at the Shangri-La hotel, Bangkok, Thailand from May 14 to 16. 2012, with over 200 travel industry specialists attending the three-day event. The event offered British and Irish tourism businesses a crucial route to market and a unique opportunity to further boost the 4.3 million visits and GBP4.9 billion ($7.7 billion) spent in Britain by visitors from this part of the world. Keith Beecham, VisitBritain’s overseas network director said: “2011 was a strong year for visits and spend from the APMEA region, especially from countries like Australia, China, and Singapore.
Australia, India, UAE and China reached or maintained their highest rank ever for visit numbers in that year.”
“APMEA accounts for 14 per cent inbound tourism to Britain in terms of visits and 27.7 per cent of total spend, giving us more scope to attract a greater share of the market.”