With a new venue, new layout and more exhibitors, ITB Asia 2012 is all set to open doors from October 17-19, 2012 at the Sands Expo and Convention Centre, Marina Bay Sands, Singapore
Since its debut five years ago, ITB Asia has continued to see an unprecedented demand from exhibitors and buyers. Last year, the show attracted over 7,500 attendees, an increase of around 14 per cent over 2010, representing over 90 countries, 50 per cent more compared to 2010.
This year, floor space was sold out as early as May, five months ahead of the event, despite increasing floor size. Nino Gruettke, executive director of ITB Asia, speaks to TTN about the immense support received from exhibitors and what delegates can look forward to at this year’s event.
What are the key highlights at ITB Asia 2012?
ITB Asia, the trade show for the Asian Travel Market, is the region’s key travel trade event generating new business leads, critical industry knowledge, and invaluable industry networks for its delegates. We look forward to delivering a bigger and better show this year with number of new initiatives.
This year, we welcome exhibitors and buyers to our new venue, The Sands Expo and Convention Center, Marina Bay Sands, while Suntec Singapore undergoes refurbishment. We also welcome on board Pan Pacific Singapore, a first time exhibitor, as the Official Partner Hotel for ITB Asia 2012.
Every year, we aim to deliver key insights to delegates through high quality conference content and engaging events. This year, we’re proud to forge new partnerships with leading travel industry experts representing UNWTO, MCI, National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS), Panacea Publishing Asia, Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), Asia Cruise Assocation (ACA) among others delivering over 3,700 minutes of high quality content.
To kick off the conference programme, we have also invited Horst Schulz, president and CEO Capella Hotels to deliver a keynote speech on 'The Global Hospitality Industry Today and Tomorrow.'
We also believe in giving our delegates the networks and platforms needed to future-proof their businesses. Our new youth-centric initiative, Future Leaders, reinforces this belief by bringing together young talent from Singapore’s tertiary institutes and grooming them for the fast-growing Asian travel industry.
What can we expect to see this year – in terms of attendance from exhibitors?
We’re seeing an unprecedented demand from exhibitors this year. This year, our floor space completely sold out in May, five months ahead of the event, despite increasing our booth space by 20 per cent.
In terms of regions, emerging markets from Asia are set to make a strong presence at this year’s show. Indonesia returns with a remarkable increase in presence with Bali Village, which has more than doubled its space.
Thailand is showing a strong presence, with Phuket Tourist Association and the tourism board of Hua Hin, which are both setting up dedicated pavilions at this year’s show. Philippine Department of Tourism also returns to ITB Asia 2012 after a three-year absence.
This year, new exhibitors from major hospitality groups such as Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts, Meliá Hotels International, Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Hilton Worldwide, Wyndham Hotel Group and Far East Hospitality have confirmed bookings.
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Gruettke |
Each year we welcome international and regional senior level buyers and decision makers from key industries, who attend our show to source for new destinations and travel products, and gain new industry knowledge.
At ITB Asia, we’ve always focused on improving the quality of buyers at the show, and we’re proud to share that year after year, we have consistently attracted top quality buyers, both hosted and non-hosted, who have created genuine business opportunities for our exhibitors
In addition to our hosted buyer programme, we have also noticed a significant increase in non-hosted buyers taking part in the show demonstrating the growing reach of ITB Asia as well as the effectiveness of the show as a business platform.
This year, like previous years, we’ve tweaked our hosted buyer programme again to reflect the changes we see in buyers’ needs. This year’s show sees an enhanced application process with the addition of the ‘Group’ and ‘Individual’ category. The new process allows exhibitors to nominate buyers they would like to meet at the show, and once approved, invite recommended buyers to register under the ‘Group’ category.
Last year, we realised that buyers were often pressed for time but were interested in attending ITB Asia’s knowledge platform, and created the partial hosted buyer category last year to give buyers with tight travelling schedules more flexibility to participate in the show and manage their appointment schedules.
This year, new buyers can again register for partial hosting status under the ‘Individual’ category enjoying similar benefits to fully hosted buyers but with the added flexibility to manage their schedule at ITB Asia.
All potential buyers undergo a stringent assessment process to ensure that buyers of the highest calibre and experience enter the pre-scheduled appointment system. This ensures our high level of buyer and exhibitor satisfaction, positioning ITB Asia as the region’s most prominent travel trade show.
You previously mentioned that South America and Southern Africa are two regions with a growing presence at ITB Asia 2012 – how can these regions benefit from their participation at ITB Asia?
Yes, we’ve seen that emerging markets across the world like South America and Southern Africa are growing their presence at ITB Asia 2012. South America, which has doubled its floor space this year, comes in strong with a pavilion by Promperu, Peru’s tourism board, returning after a three-year absence from the show, and a dedicated pavilion collectively set up by the tourism boards of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia and Venezuela. Southern Africa has increased its floor space by two and a half times this year and will be represented by two dedicated pavilions at ITB Asia 2012.
The whole Asian travel market meets at ITB Asia and the show also attracts top industry buyers from Asia-Pacific, the Middle East, Europe and America. There is no better platform than ITB Asia to showcase the two region’s travel industry to the global travel market.
Furthermore, with South America and Southern Africa rapidly emerging as key destinations for tourism and hospitality, representatives from the regions would also benefit from the critical business insights delivered through our record conference line-up and our range of partner events.
What kind of participation can we expect to see from the Middle East and what market segments?
The Middle East is a booming market which is increasingly becoming more integrated with the global tourism industry, and is showing a strong presence at ITB Asia 2012. This year, we have over 60 exhibitors from the Middle East, taking over 400 sq m of booth space.
We also welcome prominent new exhibitors this year, such as Jordan Tourist Board, who will be setting up a dedicated pavilion. The tourism boards of Israel, Egypt, and UAE are also set to return this year to share their latest packages and information with our delegates, as well as contribute their knowledge and insights to our repository of critical industry information.
Tell us more about this year’s line-up of conferences and event programme. What are the highlights?
We’re constantly upgrading our conference content to deliver cutting edge insights to our delegates through forums, seminars and workshops. We proud to share that we once again have a record conference line-up of over 3,700 minutes this year, 16 per cent higher than last year’s record line-up.
This year, we’ve upped our game by welcoming a number of new conference partners on board. We’ve partnered with World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), to deliver the first ever panel debate future growth of tourism in Asia, titled ‘Looking into Tourism in Asia in 2030’.
In addition, leading travel industry experts representing MCI, National Association of Travel Agents Singapore (NATAS) and Panacea Publishing Asia will deliver and discuss innovative solutions and best practices of the travel industry and related sectors at our show this year.
MCI will present the Corporate Mice Buyer Programme, a high level educational programme for buyers of Corporate Meetings, with forums on ‘Performance Improvement’ and ‘Procurement Insight’. The NATAS Travel Conference will address the impact of the rapidly changing needs of today’s savvy travellers, and guide travel agents on building their brands.
Panacea Publishing Asia will address the effectiveness of travel incentives in increasing employee productivity with its panel discussion titled ‘The Power of Incentives – New Initiatives, Same Objectives’.
Our existing conference partners TTG Asia Media will deliver the very successful TTG Travel Experts Conference, and Web In Travel, to deliver critical and path-breaking developments in the travel industry to our delegates.
We like to provide a holistic and in-depth understanding of the dynamic industry to our delegates, and welcome four new standalone conferences to this year’s line-up. Speakers representing some of the best brands in the business including Capella Hotels, LVMH and Hilton Worldwide‘s Waldorf-Astoria and Conrad brands will discuss the amalgamation of the luxury hospitality markets and possible opportunities for collaboration at the ‘Luxury Retailers vs Luxury Hoteliers’ panel discussion.
The ‘GBTA: Corporate Travel Update from China’ session will discuss new developments in Chinese corporate travel market, while the ‘Asia Cruise Association Panel session: Navigating the Cruise Industry Towards Greater Profits’ will give delegates an overview of cruise tourism development throughout the region and tips on how to manage a profitable cruise business.
Finally, a conference titled ‘Building a More Collaborative Relationship between Buyers and Vendors’ will address key aspects of building successful relationships between travel buyers and suppliers.
Lastly, we’ve embarked on an exciting new initiative, Future Leaders, to attract and groom young talent for the fast-growing travel industry. Our inaugural programme is a hands-on and interactive way to train young talent that addresses the critical manpower issues faced by the booming Asian travel industry, and gives our partners access to Singapore’s brightest students.
With high-powered conferences, exciting events and strategic ventures being delivered at this year’s show, we are confident that delegates will find a number of new business contacts, gain insights, and generate business leads, making for a great show.