Three cornerstones of this year’s show: repositioning Italy on international markets, promoting the industry in the political arena and the content.
BTC, Italy’s only events exhibition, due to be held at Florence, on 11-12 November 2014, provides the events, conferences and meetings industry with an opportunity to take stock, reposition itself on international markets and capture new market shares. Furthermore, all the main international destinations and sector players will be present at BTC as exhibitors, in order to meet Italian demand-side operators.
This year, the show will focus on three cornerstones: the commercial positioning of Italy’s offer on international markets; promoting the meetings and events industry in the political arena; and sector trends and professional education.
In the last few days, the BTC Technical Committee, consisting of Italy’s national tourism board Enit, the Region of Tuscany, Toscana Promozione, the Florence Municipal Council, the Florence Convention Bureau, Firenze Fiera, Federcongressi&Eventi and Federalberghi Toscana, has approved the plan for the show and given its strategic and operational support.
As regards the first point, the commercial positioning of Italy’s offer on international markets, BTC will bring to Florence a considerable number of hosted buyers coming not only from Europe, but also from markets further afield that are the top spenders in the events segment, including the United Arab Emirates, Brazil, the US, China and India.
In total, there will be 300 events industry buyers (including 200 foreign buyers) at the show to meet exhibitors in pre-scheduled one-to-one appointments.
With regard to promoting the conference and events industry as a resource for the country’s industry and strategies to develop it, BTC will host the second edition of the Politicians’ Forum. its format is designed to involve national and local politicians (the Minister of Tourism, regional councillors, tourism managers, mayors of towns with a strong conference sector) and prompt reflection on the industry’s value for destinations, beyond the more commonly-known tourism-related benefits, in order that they then support it with appropriate policies.
The Politicians’ Forum is organised by BTC in partnership with Federcongressi&eventi: the objective is to make it a central event for the conference industry and an opportunity for debate, in which future strategies can be outlined through the presentation of best practice in the public and private sectors. The key theme for the 2014 Forum will be that of the national convention bureau, currently being established in the form of a company network.
The third key point of BTC 2014 will relate to its content. Seminars, conventions and panel discussions will again be held, after registering record attendance levels last year. BTC’s education programme, organised in conjunction with industry associations and specialist external partners, will cover a variety of topics, including market trends, macroeconomic data, events, marketing, digital technology, communication, tourism, professional development and reputation.
in 2013, BTC registered an attendance figure of 7,000 over the two days of the show (double the previous year), with 313 exhibiting companies and 300 hosted buyers, for whom were organised five post tours in five different destinations in Tuscany, Umbria and Emilia Romagna.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
