A scheme to attract some of the most powerful buyers in the tourism industry to next year’s Best of Britain & Ireland Forum is proving a roaring success.
Around half the places on the VIP Domestic Hosted Buyer Programme were snapped up within 48 hours of going on offer.
Up to 200 important buyers from the coach and group travel tourism industry are likely to attend the Best of Britain & Ireland Forum at the NEC in Birmingham from 16th – 17th March 2011 through this programme.
This guarantees that BoBI exhibitors will be able to meet these important buyers, responsible for a key part of the tourism business worth millions of pounds.
The VIP Domestic Hosted Buyer Programme was first piloted in 2010 to great success and so it was decided to repeat the exercise this year. In consultation with the programme partners – The Coach Tourism Council, Confederation of Passenger Transport and Group Travel Organisers Association – invitations were sent out this week and they received a great response.
Sean Taggart, Chairman of the Coach Tourism Council said:
“We are sure that the VIP Hosted Buyer Programme, based on the solid foundations from BoBI 2010, will go from strength to strength and we applaud this initiative that BoBI Events were able to deliver so well. Everyone involved provided a fantastic programme last time and we look forward to strongly supporting the evolution of this event”.
Phil Moon, Chairman, Group Travel Organisers Association, added:
“On behalf of our many members who attended BoBI 2010 as a VIP Hosted Buyer, may I say that everyone had an excellent experience. The feedback was that they met many new suppliers and discussed ideas for future group travel as well as speaking to industry colleagues; many have said they have already booked programmes based on contacts from BoBI. Based on this hugely positive result, I believe there is more that we can do for the 2011 event and I look forward to welcoming everyone to the NEC in March”.
The highly targeted buyers who join the VIP programme are offered complimentary accommodation and networking events where they can meet exhibitors and industry colleagues both at BoBI and at an exclusive networking party hosted by Barceló Hotels.
They are supplied with an online meetings planner enabling them to book appointments in advance with the exhibitors. Hotel-to-venue coach transfers are laid on by Coaches etc. They also get exclusive use of the VisitBritain VIP Hosted Buyer Lounge at BoBI with VIP seats for a performance at the new Royal Shakespeare Theatre courtesy of VisitEngland.
