Registration is now open for IBTM China’s renowned “Hosted Buyer” program where an elite group will participate in some 9,000 preplanned meetings with about 380 exhibitors during the two-day event, Aug. 28-29, at China National Convention Center in Beijing. Roughly half of the 400 buyers expected to attend the 2019 edition will be new to IBTM China.
Based on exhibitor demand, the group of buyers will include 60 percent agency buyers, 30 percent corporate buyers and 10 percent association buyers. About 20 percent of international buyers will come from the Asia Pacific region, including second- and third-tier mainland China cities.
Exhibitor recruitment is ahead of target, with international exhibitors already signed up to attend including Los Angeles Tourism & Convention Board, Azalia Hotels, United Nations Conference Centre, Tourism New Zealand and Macao Trade and Investment Promotion Institute. Domestic exhibitors include Beijing Tourism, Shanghai New International Expo Centre Co., Ltd., Tourism Administration of Guangzhou Municipality, Accor hotels and Jinling Hotels & Resorts.
“San Francisco is a very popular destination for Chinese tourists. We received over 500,000 visitors this year. This is a great opportunity for us to connect the buyers from all over the world,” says Hubertus Funke, executive vice president and chief tourism officer of San Francisco Travel, commenting on his time at 2018’s event,
As well as two days of one-to-one business meetings, the event features a comprehensive program of education sessions. This year, the knowledge program includes over 50 sessions on topics such as tailor-made tours, cruises, aviation, incentive travel and business travel. The event itinerary also includes several networking sessions to help renew old connections and forge valuable new business relationships.
“We are excited to open registration for this year’s Hosted Buyer program,” says Nicole Ci, project manager of IBTM China. “Already we have over some extremely high-caliber exhibitors confirmed and are looking forward to recruiting an equally high quality group of hosted buyers for them to meet and do business with. We’ve altered the ratios of buyer types for this year’s event, based on feedback from exhibitors which means we can cater ever more closely for their needs and continue to provide the very best backdrop for doing business.”
IBTM, part of Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world’s leading showcase for the meetings and events industry (also known as MICE) with a portfolio of 5 global and regional events providing business solutions on 5 continents. They include IBTM World, IBTM Arabia, IBTM Africa, IBTM Americas and IBTM China. Fore more info, visit www.ibtmevents.com
Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world’s leading travel and tourism event’s organizer, with a wide-ranging portfolio of 22 international events in 13 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa. Its market-leading, business-to-business events cover all elements of travel and tourism, including leisure travel, luxury travel, meetings, events, incentives and business travel, as well as golf travel. For more info, visit www.reedtravelexhibitions.com.
