MICE CENTRAL & EASTERN EUROPE

The IT & CMA trade Fair in Bangkok – A Big Success

The IT & CMA trade Fair in Bangkok – A Big Success

The IT & CMA trade Fair in Bangkok – A Big Success
November 04
00:00 2013

The 21st annual IT & CMA trade fair, centered around incentive, congress and business tourism, drew more than 2, 657 delegates from 57 countries (pre-registered ones) to bangkok, Thailand October 1 through 3.

The popular MICE show included 887 exhibitors, 542 corporate buyers, 174 conference delegates, and 142 media representatives (including from our magazine MICE CEE). Spanning more than 5,000 square metres of the Bangkok Convention Centre at centralWorld, the event featured an entire day devoted to sellers-meet-buyers and buyers-meet-sellers meetings.

The largest pavilion, of course, spotlighted the host country, Thailand, with 374 square metres, followed by Macau (168 square metres) and Malaysia (168 square meters). Hotels, resorts, convention bureaus, DMC agencies, premier travel industry organizations, spas and others were present. The Media Lounge, where industry magazines were freely distributes, catered to trade reporters from all over the world on hand to cover the event. Our magazine, MICE CEE attracted considerable attention from the delegates, especially the issue containing information about various CEE countries. GO CZECH REPUBLIC proved equally popular. The Asian interest in CEE destinations has been growing each year, amply demonstrated yet again by the burgeoning number of visitors from Asia, a trend that seems sure to continue.

The organizer, TTG Events, carefully selected 387 buyers from 48 countries for the annual extravaganza, about half of whom arrived from remote destinations, with the balance coming from the Asia-Pacific region. India, Poland and China accounted form the largest number of attendees. Buyers participating for the first time constituted 60 percent of the crowd, including delegates from Brunei Darussalam and Ireland, nations entirely new to the show. Of the 155 corporate travel managers who received invitations, 97 %  came from Asia. Forty seven pourcent of the buyers were there for first time, a positive sign, considering that a large number of the first time buyers invariably leads to an increase in clientelle and the opportunity to provide exhibitors with greater opportunities to forge cooperation.

The IT & CMA trade fair is also attractive because of the diverse networking events it offers, including launches, evening entertainment, post-tours, meetings and educational forums, plus press conferences for the media. This year’s most noted new additions included an internet platform for arranging meetings before the show (pre-scheduled appointments, or PSA), and facilities for keeping online diaries and daily video recordings. The quality of press conferences was much improved this year. Because of its overall success, delegates are already preparing for next year’s show.

 

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