A senior Beijing tourism official says the recent IBTM China exhibition has become a solid platform for the international development of what China and the capital has to inbound groups.
Wang Yue, vice chair of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Developments, said during the official press conference at the Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings: “IBTM China has grown into Asia’s largest and most mature international exhibition dedicated to the convention, exhibition and incentive industries over the past decade, offering a solid platform for Beijing’s and even China’s tourism to expand external communication, intensify collaboration, promote development and achieve a win-win result.”
The event at the China National Convention Centre, between August 5-6, was organised by Reed Travel Exhibitions who reported strong levels of exhibitor and buyer satisfaction.
Feedback
This included strong feedback from MICE suppliers and buyers from China, Asia and across the world, standing-room only at education sessions, a well attended Community Hub and two networking functions hosted by NUO Hotel and Marriot Northwest.
One of the hosted buyers at the event was Grace Crispus-Shanmugam from Australia, who is executive assistant to the group CEO at Clarius Group (Australia). “This has been a great show for me and has definitely been worthwhile,” she said. “I have found some suppliers here that I am definitely interested in using going forward. The show helps me learn more about the industry and has given me some great new ideas. It has been a good use of my time out of the office and I have found it the most productive show to date.”
Hyejung Yang, of the incentive and exhibitions team at Korea Tourism Organisation, said: “We have had a lot of business from trade buyers and hosted buyers attending the show. We have attended ibtm china for the last five years and it is an important part of our marketing strategy.
“Following last year’s CIBTM we secured an incentive tour for 15,000 corporates. This year we have confirmed an incentive group of 8,000 international delegates with a US corporate company.”
Educate
Helen Zhang, business events manager, Greater China, for New Zealand Tourism said it was the organisation’s third year at IBTM China. In one day at the event the stand received about 15 business leads, which she said was “very productive”.
“It is important that we continue to exhibit here as it allows us to educate people about New Zealand’s potential in this sector and now buyers are coming to our stand asking about particular cities for hosting meetings, which is a great trend that started here,” Zhang said.
Cici Chen, senior project manager for IBTM China, said: “This has been a great year for us. We introduced our mutually matched appointment system for the first time, which was very well received. This matched appointments according to both exhibitor and buyer preferences, ensuring more relevant appointments and better ROI.
“The feedback we have obtained to date really does validate the fact that quality counts for everything when it comes to delivering a world class exhibition. CIBTM is a platform dedicated to driving the industry forward in the region.”
Main picture: A hosted buyer (right) meets with an exhibitor at the recent IBTM China show in Beijing
