After two full days of meetings, networking and education sessions, IBTM China ended on a high, with this year’s new show features proving a hit with the almost 4,000 event professionals who attended the region’s leading event in Beijing at the China National Convention Centre (CNCC) from August 28 to 29.
This year, IBTM China featured several exciting new initiatives and activities, designed to increase opportunities for connection and learning among delegates. The Business Travel Digital Innovation Summit saw delegates explore the latest issues facing business travel managers, and the new Happy Hour provided a buzz on the show floor and allowed for valuable networking to take place.
Over 350 high quality domestic and international exhibitors attended IBTM China, a 40 percent increase from last year. These included Air Canada, Okinawa Japan, Fiji Tourism, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, Sydney Conference and Training Centre, Salam Management Services, Sodexo Prestige Venues & Events, Shanghai New International Expo Centre and Tourism Administration of Guangzhou Municipality.
Exhibitor Cecilia Lavin, head of sales at Sodexo & Prestige Events, said: “This is my first time as an exhibitor at IBTM China. I’ve had over 30 successful pre-booked appointments, as well as a lot of walk in trade, which isn’t very common for exhibitions like this, so that’s fantastic news. The show has been particularly good for MICE business to the UK, and the events around the show have been great for meeting more buyers, so I would strongly recommend anyone who is looking to target China’s market to attend IBTM China.”
Exhibitor Kelli Li, major account manager at GL Events Venues commented: “Compared to the other shows, IBTM China is one of the most important events for us and one of the highest quality shows in China. We’ll be continuing to attend the show and hope to see the Chinese MICE buyers grow in the region.”
Three hundred and thirty five hosted buyers attended with 84 percent of who had a full diary of appointments.
Hosted buyer Martina Spagnolello, planning and operations manager at Casta Diva Events said: “I had the chance to speak to exhibitors from several different regions in China and made good connections with local suppliers. Every time I’ve come to China it’s for work and I haven’t had time to travel around and find new destinations and opportunities. However, IBTM China has given me the chance to talk to local companies from all over the country. The amount of information and connections I have made at IBTM China in two days would take well over a year to gather!”
Nicole Ci, event manager of IBTM China, says: “I’m incredibly proud of the team and what we have achieved with this year’s event. Our first ever Business Travel Digital Innovation Summit was extremely well received and it was fantastic, to feel the buzz on the show floor throughout the event. Feedback so far, has been excellent in terms of the positive outcomes of business meetings taking place and we’re already, looking forward to building on this success for next year’s event.”
IBTM China gathered over 3,288 global meetings industry professionals together for two days full of pre-scheduled business meetings. The event uses IBTM’s bespoke ‘matchmaking’ software to provide each hosted buyer with a pre-arranged schedule of meetings to ensure that buyers only meet with people with whom, there’s a great chance they’ll do business.