Initiatives dedicated to the success and growth of the Hosted Buyer programme for EIBTM 2007 are already underway as the organizing authority keeps networking, education and business opportunities at the…
Initiatives dedicated to the success and growth of the Hosted Buyer programme for EIBTM 2007 are already underway as the organizing authority keeps networking, education and business opportunities at the forefront for 2007 plans.
Flexibility will be increased for buyers from many Eastern European, and Middle Eastern and Scandinavian destinations with two night’s stay now available enabling Hosted Buyers to maximise business opportunities and return on investment from increased time at the show. Previous successful solutions have been retained such as special Hosted Buyer charter flights from London and Paris on top of the list of extensive short haul ports on offer.
Hosted Bbuyers will also be flying in from an increasing number of long haul ports including Melbourne, Sydney, Johannesburg, Capetown, Hong Kong, Singapore, Mumbai, New Delhi, Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, Mexico City, Toronto and US airports. However, focus will also remain on continued growth from all the key European buyer markets including increasing the percentage of Hosted Buyers from Spain and Germany.
Partnerships with Group co-ordinators from hotel chains, agencies and publications are in progress to recruit senior decision makers whose applications will then be rigorously checked by an experienced external qualifying team to guarantee the quality buyers that are expected and delivered from EIBTM’s Hosted Buyer Programme.
Antonio Minetti, Commercial Director, Planet Services S.R.L, Hosted Buyer at last year’s EIBTM comments on his experience: “I would like to say that during my visit to EIBTM in Barcelona I achieved in 48 hours a series of goals which would have taken a period of months to achieve. For this reason I can only recommend this event to anyone.”
EIBTM’s purely buyer driven appointment system will see further enhancements to facilitate increased one-to-one business opportunities. Time between appointments will be extended to allow more time for buyers to move around their individual appointments on the even larger exhibition floor. The expected 10% increase in Hosted Buyers predicted for 2007, along with the extension to 2 night visits for many of these buyers, will ensure that last year’s record total of over 34,000 individual pre-scheduled appointments is set to be broken.
Mr Jochen Manninger, Executive Director, Historic Conference Centres of Europe sums up on their results achieved at EIBTM 2006: “Historic Conference Centres of Europe welcomed more than 275 visitors at their stand and the 233% increase in pre-scheduled appointments from the year before was overwhelming.”
The post EIBTM fam trip programme has had tremendous early interest from European destinations wishing to invite buyers to experience their country. Last year’s itineraries were fully booked and as a result the programme will be extended further for 2007. Destinations on offer to buyers this year will feature amongst others, Amsterdam, Bilbao, Costa Daurada, Sitges, Valencia and, for the first time, Vienna and Venice..
Acknowledgement of the importance of this programme came from many of last year’s participants including Pamela S. Dallstream, Society of Critical Care Medicine who comments: “I knew nothing about Sitges prior to the fam trip, but am now very knowledgeable about the town. If I ever have the opportunity to place business in Sitges I will certainly consider it.”
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
