Las Vegas, Oct 14 2014 – IMEX America opened for business at the Sands Expo® in Las Vegas with the announcement that the fourth edition of the trade show for the international meetings, incentive travel and events industry is the biggest yet.
With a total of 2,900 companies exhibiting representing 150+ countries (2013: 2,694 from 150 countries) the number of exhibitors joining the show has risen by 8 percent.
By the time IMEX America closes on Thursday, the number of hosted buyers and other attendees is also expected to be higher than previous years.
As a result of over 70 new exhibitor booths and 83 existing exhibitors increasing the size of their booths the show floor has also enlarged by 13 per cent.
Some of the global regions that have expanded this year are the USA & Canada, which is 16.5 percent bigger; Latin America (6.5 percent); Europe, which is bigger by 3 percent and Asia-Pacific, which has grown by nearly 8 percent.
Hundreds of ‘selfies’ at the opening of IMEX America.
Other sectors within the market have shown significant growth too. Space taken by the hotel groups is up by 26 percent; private sector company booth space has increased by 37.5 percent; space taken by technology suppliers is up by 20 percent and incentive products have risen by 50 percent.
Says IMEX Group Chairman, Ray Bloom: “We are delighted with the industry’s continued strong response to IMEX America. Every year we set out to add more value, fresh ideas, new partnerships and more choice while maintaining a sharp focus on high quality all round – and that covers the quality of hosted buyers attending as well as the education and networking events on offer. We want every single participant to leave in no doubt that IMEX America provided them with an unparalleled business experience.”
With buyers able to use the unique IMEX appointment system to preschedule appointments with exhibitors before the show opens, IMEX has developed a reputation as an efficient and buyer-friendly trade show that also satisfies the needs of exhibitors. Buyers pre-arranged 53,000 one-to-one appointments and booth presentations prior to today. In addition a total of 1,200 group appointments are also scheduled.
Smart Monday – powered by MPI – kicked off the week of IMEX America yesterday with a stronger than ever program that combined an opening keynote with a day of intensive professional development. This included the first ever PCMA Business School plus the show’s annual Association Focus for association executives.
Before the show opened at 10am Pacific time today 12 other events had already taken place, including several sets of industry certification programs, the CIC Hall of Leaders Gala, Association Evening, Site Nite North America, the first ever CEIR IMEX America Golf Classic, the Site Young Leaders Conference and the IMEX Challenge.
