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Travel exhibition venues make or break a show. Venues which are familiar and easy to reach may be popular, but many older venues are increasingly unsuitable for the needs of the 21st Century.
Moving a show is a tremendous upheaval, as with World Travel Market in London. The 2001 show was the last at Earls Court, an exhibition centre dating from 1937, and in 2002 it transferred to the state-of-the-art ExCel centre in London Docklands.
Exhibition space sold has increased by 15% since the move with 191 countries and 5,716 exhibiting companies at the 2003 event.
The big drawback, however, is access. Earls Court was only 10 minutes from central London by metro train, while ExCel is about 45 minutes away with a change necessary from the metro to the Docklands Light Railway or shuttle bus.
WTM exhibition director Fiona Jeffery explains: “The strength of Earls Court was clearly its location, but squeezing in an average of 30,000 people a day created great pressure on facilities. By moving to ExCel we moved from the 20th into the 21st Century, where the IT infrastructure was built in.
“Without exception people find it easier to move around ExCel. Transport is still a challenge, but once people are there they are a captive audience.”
ExCel is formed of one huge hall, whereas Earls Court had two separate halls – one with a gallery. ExCel also claims to be the first travel exhibition venue in the world with wi-fi access, meaning visitors and exhibitors can be web-connected anywhere on the floor.
Conference facilities are also important to a venue, and the Swedish Exhibition and Conference Centre in Gothenburg – venue of TUR – is a good example. It may not be in Sweden’s capital, but a congress hall that can house up to 1,500 delegates, plus 46 conference rooms that can accommodate from eight to 70 people, gives it the edge over many venues.
TUR organiser Johan Lundberg says: “The centre was rebuilt last year with very modern facilities, and it also helps to have our own hotel – the Gothia Towers – on-site. There are 5,000 hotel beds within a five-minute walk, whereas in Stockholm the exhibition centre is out of town.”
The EMITT travel exhibition – East Mediterranean International Travel and Tourism exhibition – is held every February in Istanbul, at Beylikdüzü exhibition centre. It is distant from the city centre and but the metro system will be extended there next year.
“We organise shuttle bus services from our official hotels and a free shuttle system for public visitors from the city centre, and it costs us a lot,” says EMITT director Hacer Aydin. “That is why we find a sponsor for these transfers, but we use TUYAP instead of the CNR exhibition centre because the services there are much better.”
According to ETTFA President Stanislava Blagoeva-Duschell, the three main factors governing choice of exhibition venue are accessibility, design and technical specification. She says new venues in Eastern Europe, such as Warsaw International Expocentre and Crocus Expo Exhibition Centre on the Moscow City Ring Road, point the way forward.
“What exhibitors need is a warehouse-type building with no columns, and the latest electronic facilities,” she says. “Cutting edge design venues are taking over, and if something better comes along then organisers will move.
“But now we are seeing some exhibition centres creating their own companies to organise events. That is a potential threat to existing organisers, if they have preferential rates and dates.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
