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ITTFA, the International Tourism Trade Fairs Association, welcomes two new members for 2009, MTM of Morocco and Vakantiebeurs, the Utrecht based event. The shows join other prestigious market leaders in the tourism exhibition industry, including TUR, Gothenburg; MITT in Moscow and TTG Incontri, Rimini, whose aim, as part of ITTFA, is to promote the industry and raise standards.
Moroccan Travel Market is held in Marrakech in January each year and despite being a relatively new show, coming into its third year, it hosted over 260 exhibiting companies from 23 countries, attracting over 10,000 trade visitors at its show last month and looks set to develop further for next year. An excellent business platform, the fair is the ideal opportunity for all Moroccan and foreign tourism professionals to expose their products and services and meet fellow professionals, decision makers and buyers from around the world. Enjoying a strategically important geographical position, situated between Europe and Africa, Morocco, through the Moroccan Travel Market, is the ideal link to facilitate the development of the North-South exchanges.
“ITTFA will help us open up internationally,” said General Manager, Kamal Rahal Essoulami. “Admission to the ITTFA will consolidate our event’s international standing and provide an opportunity for additional international exhibitors to reach Moroccan travel professionals. We look forward to sharing opinions and experiences with our ITTFA partners and to contributing to increased outbound travel bookings from Morocco for new international exhibitors.”
Vakantiebeurs, on the otherhand, is a long established show, having held its 39th event in January at the Jaarbeurs Utrecht exhibition centre. Referred to as the leading event in the Benelux travel market, this year the show covered 88,000 m2, hosting 1633 exhibitors from over 160 countries with trade visitor numbers reaching 18,000, (in addition to 115.000 consumer visitors). According to research carried out by VNU Exhibitions amongst visitors during the show, the top European destinations are Italy, France, Spain, Scandinavia, Greece, and Germany, in that order with the Far East being the most popular long haul destination.
A well respected show in the travel trade exhibition arena, Vakantiebeurs has deservedly much to offer and ITTFA will indeed benefit from the experience and industry expertise of this long standing show.
Bart Strijker, Project Manager, comments, “Forging stronger relationships with ITTFA member shows and other major players in the international tourism trade fair industry will enable us to reach further into international markets, both established and developing. We look forward to the benefits our membership will bring and to supporting the continued efforts of ITTFA to raise the exhibition industry’s profile and standing, which is particularly crucial in these current times of economic downturn".
ITTFA is dedicated to the continual development of the travel trade show industry, increasing participation and setting high standards across Europe and worldwide. Recent changes to entry requirements and the annual fee structure mean that membership is more accessible to smaller and developing shows, as well as more established ones. This underlines one of the primary goals of the Association as it strives to improve travel trade exhibition standards across all markets and help maximize the benefits for both visitors and exhibitors. The association continues to maintain, and demand, high standards from all its members as well as those seeking application and in so doing to strive for greater professionalism in the tourism exhibitions industry.
Tom Nutley, has been chairman of ITTFA since he helped to establish the association in 1992. "Growth markets are an integral part of the future development and success of travel exhibitions and I am delighted that we have this opportunity to build stronger relationships with Morocco, an exciting country with plenty of scope for development and growth. These new growth markets are balanced by the traditional, strong European markets in which we have some excellent tourism trade shows. We warmly welcome Vakantiebeurs, a strong force in the tourism exhibition industry and look forward to working with this long standing and professional show. Encouraging new and improved relationships in the international tourism trade fair industry is a key objective for the association which will further enable all of our members to maximise the tremendous opportunities worldwide".
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
