The delegates include buyers from Europe as well as Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Russia, South Africa and USA. The buyers are keen to conduct business with the exhibitors at BoBI, capitalising on the weak pound and the growing interest in the UK in the build-up to 2012.
Special events for the buyers at the event include a Welcome reception by VisitBritain with news on 2012 initiatives, lunch hosted by Visit Wales, a St Patrick’s Day networking evening with Tourism Ireland, a night at a West End musical courtesy of Dewynters, morning refreshments from Welcome to Yorkshire and quality time on the show floor with exhibitors.
As well as attending the event, the buyers will enjoy valuable first-hand experience of the highlights of the British tourism product with familiarisation trips on different themes in England, Scotland, Wales and London. Each trip will be tailor-made to meet the needs of travel buyers from the different markets round the world.
2009 BoBI exhibitors are enthusiastic about the benefits of this initiative. In March 2009 the event generated invaluable business from several overseas markets and in just one year BoBI has become an essential part of business planning strategy for many tourism providers who recognise the unrivalled possibilities of meeting and conducting business with overseas buyers who have real spending power.
Heart of England’s Sam Warnock commented, "Last year’s BoBI generated valuable business from several overseas markets which were completely new to us. We are very excited about the prospect of meeting an even greater number of influential buyers from round the world this coming March."
BoBI Travel Trade Forum takes place on Wednesday17th - Thursday18th March at London’s Olympia. It is the centrepiece of the fourth annual British Tourism Week.
Theodore Koumelis - Thursday, December 24, 2009