Record figures – Hosted Buyers, Pre-scheduled appointments and education attendance
This year’s EIBTM was confirmed by Mandy Torrens, EIBTM Exhibition Director, as having attracted the largest ever gathering of Hosted Buyers and the most pre-scheduled appointments in the event’s 21-year-old history.
She announced that unaudited figures showed that the event attracted a record number of Hosted Buyers – 3,791 up 2% on the previous year; 54,255 pre-scheduled meetings were organised over the three day event – up 4%. Overall total attendance is expected to hit the 8,000 mark.
Mandy Torrens commented: “These figures show not only how resilient the meetings market is in challenging times but the reputation EIBTM has as the place to do business, learn and network.”
She added: “We welcomed our largest ever gathering of Hosted Buyers from Europe, Africa, Asia, US, South America, Middle East, Far East and Australia and we are already receiving requests for space for next year.”
EIBTM’s professional education programme saw numbers top over 3,000, up 15% – another record for the event – making it the largest European education gathering of industry professionals.
The Association Programme attracted record attendances from twenty-four countries including Russia, Israel, USA, Sweden, Chile and China; a truly international and cosmopolitan gathering of Associations representing an array of sectors.
A major success has been the expansion of the event’s Spanish educational programme with ten dedicated sessions organised over the three days with speakers from APCE, MPI, Malaga Convention Bureau, Viajes Iberia Congresos, Oviedo Congress Palace and Le Meridien Barcelona. This initiative has impacted positively on the number of Spanish visitors at the show and is set to become a stable part of the show in future years.
The atmosphere around the show highlighted the enormous amount of business generated at the event.
Visit London
“Best EIBTM ever, we expect to exceed last year’s figure of £52 million worth of business enquiries. We have organised three fam trips with North American, South American and Norwegian buyers. EIBTM plays an absolutely crucial role in our marketing strategy.”
Sandton Convention Centre, South Africa
“More high quality appointments, particularly from Associations. £3 – 5m of business enquiries which are confident will turn into actual business.”
New York City
“EIBTM has brought more appointments (15 per day per person) for us this year than ever before. We have come to EIBTM every year since its beginning and intend to come back next year.”
EIBTM is ABC Audited every year to guarantee that the number of visitors promoted is completely accurate and are unique attendees only.
EIBTM 2009 (www.eibtm.com) will take place again in Barcelona 30th November – 2nd December 2010.
