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250 exhibitors and more than 200 hosted buyers, coming from Italy, Europe and further afield, are attending 28th BTC. Excellent attendance expected at this year’s education programme, with most places taken in the registration phase. Opening press conference to follow the ribbon cutting. Pre-show welcome dinner for buyers hailed a success.
The 28th BTC, the Italian trade show for the meetings, events, conferences, incentive travel and business tourism industry, opens this morning at the Fiera di Rimini Exhibition Centre, for two days of business, education and professional networking.
After the traditional cutting of the ribbon by the Regional Councillor for Tourism for Emilia Romagna Maurizio Melucci, the opening press conference will be held; speakers include Maurizio Melucci, Chairman of Rimini Fiera Lorenzo Cagnoni, Chief Executive of Exmedia Paolo Audino, Councillor of Convention Bureau Italia Paolo Rubini and Chairman of Federcongressi&eventi Paolo Zona.
250 Italian and international exhibitors representing the whole conference supply chain are attending BTC, including hotel groups, hotels, convention bureaus, and tourism consortia; and then there are conference centres, historic residences, events venues, communication, marketing and entertainment agencies, DMCs, suppliers of technological services, event stagers and transport companies… Among the international destinations represented are San Marino, Serbia, India, Cuba, South Korea, Las Vegas and the Seychelles.
Meeting the exhibitors, through the system of prescheduled appointments based on the specific professional interests of each party, will be more than 200 hosted buyers: two thirds are Italian and one third international, coming from 11 European countries and Russia, Turkey, the USA, Brazil, India, Argentina, Australia and Canada: the best represented countries are Germany, Russia, France, the USA and Brazil.
The seminars are expected to register excellent attendance: the education programme proposed by BTC this year has proved very popular, and all the places available at many seminars have already been taken during the online registration phase in the weeks before the show. Scheduled for today are The “new reality” in the meetings industry: the new relationship between supply and demand and the new buyer behaviour by Rob Davidson, Your adventure, a challenge to be won by Alex Bellini, Stefania Conti Vecchi’s practical workshop on Mobile applications and web tools for event organisation, The meeting planner meets Genius Loci: exploiting the destination’s “personality” for an event organised by By Innovation, and the industry association seminars: What corporate clients look for: are invitations to tender really the most effective tool to select the right supplier? by SITE Italy and Italian labour reform: tools to promote job market flexibility by Federcongressi&eventi.
There are also the exhibitors’ presentations: at 2pm, Convention Bureau Italia, BTC’s main partner, is holding a press conference on “Convention Bureau Italia – one year on”, in which it will present the activities it has undertaken in its first year of operation, followed by a talk show chaired by Radio24 – Il Sole 24 ORE host Enrico Pagliarini, which will explore issues relating to the development of the conference industry within the national economy.
The Region of Veneto will then hold a press conference at 3pm: the regional councillor for tourism Marino Finozzi will present the Venice Region Convention Bureau Network, a point of contact between the regional authority, the seven provincial convention bureaus, and events organisers.
At 4.30pm, at the Lago Maggiore Meetings Industry stand, there will follow the presentation of Lago Maggiore Green Meeting, a project that brings together operators of the region committed to providing their clients with products and services that can deliver sustainable events.
The welcome evening for buyers, held yesterday in the luxury Grand Hotel di Rimini, the sponsor of the initiative, was hailed a great success. With aperitifs served in the garden, dinner on a private beach and enchanting musical entertainment, guests were able to sample the very best of Rimini’s hospitality.
“BTC opens today under the best auspices” commented Paolo Audino. “This is undoubtedly a complex period for the market, and the meetings industry is required to offer creativity, quality and flexibility to help its clients achieve their objectives. In order to deal with the new market challenges, we need new ideas, new business contacts, new knowledge and professional expertise. This BTC has been designed with a view to providing operators and events buyers with the tools they need to be sucessful in their work. I hope that the show is of value to everyone attending, and I am sure that it will make a sound contribution to the development of the Italian meetings industry”.
Theodore is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of TravelDailyNews Media Network; his responsibilities include business development and planning for TravelDailyNews long-term opportunities.
