Inaugural ITB Asia attendance exceeds expectations

SINGAPORE – The inaugural ITB Asia B2B travel show closed today in Singapore with 6,208 delegates joining the three-day event.

SINGAPORE – The inaugural ITB Asia B2B travel show closed today in Singapore with 6,208 delegates joining the three-day event. The attendance was 24.2 percent more than the 5,000 anticipated by event organizer, Messe Berlin.

The 651 exhibitor companies who took 10,600 square meters of space in the Suntec Singapore International Convention and Exhibition Centre were 30.2 percent more than the targeted 500.

Buyers and trade visitors arrived from 70 countries. In total, there were representatives from 90 countries at the event.

The ITB Asia Convention, the Web in Travel event and the Association of Corporate Travel Executive forum, attracted a total of 1,375 delegates, many of them concerned about the global economic situation and how the travel industry should respond.

“We are very impressed by the positive response from the travel industry,” said Dr. Martin Buck, director of Messe Berlin (Singapore). “This is proof we have met customer expectations by focusing exclusively on Asian source markets, following a B2B format, running a high-quality, hosted, buyer program and putting our trust in the convenience and professionalism of Singapore as the host venue.”

Initial survey results from delegates have shown an 86 percent overall approval rating for the inaugural event. Over 95 percenet said they would recommend their business partners to attend ITB Asia. More than 94 percent said they would visit ITB Asia 2009.

“We are now in the process of negotiating expanded floor space for 2009,” said Dr. Buck. “We will analyze the full survey results and make extra improvements to ensure an even better ITB Asia next year.”

The next ITB Asia takes place October 21-23, 2009.

About ITB Asia

ITB Asia is taking place for the first time at Suntec Singapore on October 22-24, 2008. It is organized by Messe Berlin (Singapore) Pte, Ltd. in conjunction with the Singapore Tourism Board. The event features more than 650 exhibiting companies from the Asia-Pacific region, Europe, the Americas, Africa, and the Middle East, covering not only the leisure market, but also corporate and MICE travel. It includes exhibition pavilions and tabletop presence for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) providing travel services. Exhibitors from every sector of the industry, including destinations, airlines and airports, hotels and resorts, theme parks and attractions, inbound tour operators, inbound DMCs, cruise lines, spas, venues, other meeting facilitie and travel technology companies are all attending.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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