Visit London, the city’s official visitor organisation, recorded record enquiry figures at this year’s IMEX international business event in Frankfurt. The organisation’s business team recorded a massive increase in new business enquires from previous figures recorded in 2007. Last year’s £11 million worth of business enquiries was dwarfed by this year’s impressive £37 million worth of potential business enquiries for the capital.
With 27 partners exhibiting, London was one of the biggest cities exhibiting at IMEX 2008. Visit London’s partners included a range of ultra modern hotels, experienced events companies, unusual venues and historical palaces. One Visit London partner; The Competitive Edge, a UK-based DMC/Events company, was just one partner which recorded major growth in IMEX business enquiries this year.
Bill Prosser, Managing Director of The Competitive Edge/The Connected Event Group commented: “This is the third time The Competitive Edge has exhibited at IMEX with Visit London – and it was our most successful to date. The strength of the Euro has helped London’s competitiveness and we had pre-scheduled appointments from buyers from 16 different countries from Ukraine to South Africa. In addition to this our pre-show marketing alone generated 6 briefs with a total potential value of over GBP 250,000.”
Prosser added: “We saw strong interest in the 2012 Olympics and a strong desire for visitors to connect with and experience the destination rather than just visit – an area where The Competitive Edge is particularly strong”
Visit London’s European Sales Manager, Barbara Jamison, added: “IMEX is always an incredibly important event for Visit London to attend, as it gives us the chance to connect and engage with the key European MICE market. We were delighted that both Visit London and all our 27 partners have received so many new business enquiries.”
As well as the pre-scheduled appointments, Visit London also hosted a number of bespoke activities for international and corporate buyers throughout the three-day IMEX show. One of the most important events was the launch of two new Visit London websites – the revamped Visitlondon.com/business and brand new London Heathrow Gateway website.
Visit London also created several Event Planner trips for both European and US Events Planners who attended both the London-based MPI event (18th-20th April) as well as the German-based IMEX event. Another key event for the Visit London team was a sumptuous networking evening which took place on the on the 23rd April, at the ‘Orangerie Im Park’, Frankfurt’s leafy city park.
Jamison, concludes “Having been the host city for MPI it was a great opportunity for Visit London to welcome delegates to our city, and show them first hand the diversity and value for money which London offers before they then moved on to IMEX in Frankfurt. ”
Michael Verikios - Thursday, May 08, 2008