More than 40,000 business meetings and more than 60% of all visitors were trade professionals: the impressive figures from this year’s show.
MILAN – the last great travel show before EXPO 2015, the 35th Bit – as the International Travel Fair is known, closed at the Fieramilano fairground in Rho, marking a decisive shift towards quality business.
From the point of view of travel professionals, the decisive slant towards even more careful selection, in line with the targets of this first edition of the “new wave”, translated into 61,781 visitors, 60% of whom were professionals from the sector.
All the Italian regions were represented, as well as 100 countries from all over the world. The approximately 2,000 exhibitors attending the fair met up with 1,500 very high-profile hosted buyers in more than 40,000 matched meetings (+96% compared to the previous show). 83% of the buyers were from 70 foreign countries while 17% of them were from Italy. In addition, there were more than 1,000 other buyers, who, having verified and fulfilled the stringent requirements, registered spontaneously with the matching system.
“The figure of a 96% increase in the number of business matches means that, yet again, Bit has strengthened the key role it plays in the travel business,” commented Enrico Pazzali, Managing Director at Fiera Milano. “The Bit2015 show has really paved the way for EXPO, in keeping with our strategy, which aims to consolidate an international business platform, with Italy, its landscape and its points of excellence at the center, as a driver of development for the tourism industry and Italian business as a whole, as well as allowing space for emerging destinations and trends.”
One of the most important events for the culture of the sector was the first Annual International Tourism Congress, but the many other events in the densely-packed schedule were also greatly appreciated by the business community.
This is not to forget the sector’s vocation for the most up-to-date travelers, which, this year, focused on hands-on experience holidays. In fact, the traveling public showed great interest in Destination Sport, the new area organized jointly with Decathlon, focusing on the most original proposals for active and sport-oriented holidays.
A resonance that was emphasized online: more than 100 top travel bloggers took part, encountering a selection of more than 150 blogger-friendly exhibitors. In the Bit.NOW business blog, 35 thousand 600 people read the posts giving in-depth info about the exhibitors, with peaks of more than 60 thousand. All Bit’s online and social parameters recorded a rise, with increases of up to four figures in some cases.
The date with next year’s show, Bit2016, is at the Fieramilano fairground from Thursday 11th to Saturday 13th February 2016.
Vicky is the co-founder of TravelDailyNews Media Network where she is the Editor-in Chief. She is also responsible for the daily operation and the financial policy. She holds a Bachelor's degree in Tourism Business Administration from the Technical University of Athens and a Master in Business Administration (MBA) from the University of Wales.
She has many years of both academic and industrial experience within the travel industry. She has written/edited numerous articles in various tourism magazines.
