The China Incentive, Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition (CIBTM) concluded its 2012 event with a steep increase in participation.
Organized by Reed Travel Exhibitions and held in Beijing from Sept. 12 through Sept. 14, CIBTM enhanced its position as the only domestic and international event for the MICE industry in China by welcoming the largest participation from exhibitors and a surge in the quality of regional hosted buyers.
“CIBTM has grown into the most mature meetings, incentive and events event in Asia. As the only national one for the MICE industry in 2012, I am confident it will continue to expand in the future,” said Sun Weijia, vice chairman, Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development.
CIBTM 2012 focused on encouraging more domestic hosted buyers to attend, all of whom had to achieve the strict qualification process before entering the program. Reed Travel Exhibitions embarked on a year-round tour of second- and third-tier cities in China to explain the MICE sector and find new association and corporate buyers. As a result, this year’s event welcomed more than 413 hosted buyers, of which 147 represented associations and corporations, which is an increase of 15 percent over 2011.
“We have had a great show, and the Chinese buyers are very interested in doing business. We are getting more and more incentive groups from the pharma, automotive, insurance and finance sectors. We held a dinner in Beijing with selected hosted buyers and had an excellent attendance. We will certainly be back at CIBTM in 2013,” said Barbara Steuri-Albrecht, director, Switzerland Convention & Incentive Bureau.
Other statistics from the show included increases in pre-scheduled appointments to 8,459, up 15 percent from 2011. The net space of the event was up 20 percent, and total exhibitors were up 6 percent to 398 with an 18 percent increase in the number of exhibitors from China. Hosted buyers came from 18 countries – up 36 percent with the largest increase coming from China. Some 5,000 industry professionals were expected to attend over the three days of the event.
The results of the 2012 CIBTM Global Meetings Industry Research China and Asia confirm the region continues to offer huge potential for growth with an increase in the volume of events, budgets and new destinations predicted.
