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Established
in 1978, what
was once the biggest travel trade exhibition for the Asian markets, is
once again trying to re-establish itself as a must attend event for people
interested in the Asian Travel Trade and market place. PATA took back management of the show in 2003, and have done a tremendous job of
recreating the show, changing the dates from April to around September /
October and relaunching the rotation of host countries that helped to
make the show so successful in the past. But the future is not as rosy as it sounds.
The
2008 PATA Travel Mart is taking place in Hyderabad, India from 16 - 19
September, and PATA should be able to beat most of its previous records
in terms of buyers, visitors and probably sellers as well, simply
because there is such huge demand in India. But the future of the PTM
may not be as bright as the figures themselves may indicate. There is already huge demand, and interest, in the
inaugural ITB
Asia which will take place in Singapore this coming October. With
the biggest trade show in the world behind this new event, ITB Asia is
very likely to become a must attend event giving other shows such as the
PATA Travel Mart a very serious run for their money.
The
PATA Travel Mart 2008 has a total built-up floor space of 3,766 square
metres. Some 1,089 trade delegates, comprising 374 global buyers from 324 organisations and 715 Asia Pacific seller delegates from 301 organisations, plus
numerous international media delegates have registered for the travel trade show.
Hundreds of local trade visitors are expected to visit the show floor on Friday.
The
2007 PATA Travel Mart was held in Bali between 25 - 28 September.
The
2006 PATA Travel Mart was held in Hong Kong and the 2005 PATA Travel Mart was held in Kula Lumpur, Malaysia,
which built on
the success of the 2004 mart in Bangkok, Thailand.
The
PATA Travel Mart 2007 had a total built-up floor space of 4,294 square metres. Helping to drive the Mart's growth is the strong performance of Asia Pacific travel and tourism, which last year came close to 356 million international arrivals for the first
time.
According to the ‘PATA Annual Statistical Report
2006’, which was launched at the Mart, travel to Asia Pacific destinations will continue to outperform long-term average global growth rates, expanding by around 6% per annum to
2009.
At
the 2007 PATA Travel Mart in Bali there was a total of 423 buyers representing 343 organisations from 49 source markets.
Buyers
attended to negotiate with 830 seller delegates representing
376 travel organisations from 38 destinations. Mainland China, with 14 seller organisations,
took up 144 sqm of floor space.
For the first
time in 2007, the annual PATA Foundation Silent Auction and the PATA Gold Awards presentation ceremony
was held in
conjunction with the Mart.
While
the Mart has come a long way in the last few years, there is still much
needed to be done. One example of this is on the media and delegate side
of things. Few journalists are hosted these days, and even certain events during the show
such as the workshops do not actively encourage journalists to attend as
they are forced to pay, as are delegates.
Press conferences should also
have
more interaction prior to the event with media attending the Mart.
Rather than simply allowing anyone who pays, to host a press conference,
media should be consulted to see who they would most like to meet and
why, this should at least cut down on the pointless and repetitive
conferences that so often seem to happen at many trade shows around the
world.
The number of registered qualified buyers
for the 2008 PATA Travel Mart now stands at 374 from 57 countries. They
will be able to meet with more than 300 sellers for scheduled business meetings.
According to PATA Director - Events, Sheila Leong, as many as 171 qualified buyers - or 46 per cent of the total - are first-timers to the Mart,
as a result of active nominations initiated by the PTM2008 Indian hosts and the PATA India Chapter.
India will provide the largest buyer contingent, with strong growth from Chinese (PRC) buyers, ahead of next year's PTM in Hangzhou.
Europeans continue to dominate the Mart's broad geographic buyer mix, accounting for 38% of registrations. Asian, Gulf and North
American buyers follow, with Pacific and African buyers combining for 10% of the total.
The buyers, vetted by PATA, include 12 new and expanding markets - six Gulf markets, Romania, Slovenia, Brazil, Peru, Cambodia and the
Maldives.
PATA selected India for PTM2008 as the country's tourism industry is among the strongest, most dynamic in the world and still shows
plenty of room for growth. Between 1996 and 2006, the Indian outbound market expanded nearly 10% per year. In 1996, Indians made
nearly 3.5 million trips. By 2006, the number of outbound trips topped 8.3 million, according to PATA's Strategic Intelligence Centre (SIC).
PTM2008
will provide delegates with 40 one-on-one appointments over six business sessions in three days. The Mart also offers several networking opportunities for delegates to meet more of the event's attendees.
Delegates can look forward to a full social networking programme, with hosted dinner receptions for all four evenings and sponsored lunches locked-in for all three days of the Mart.
For
other travel trade shows and events check out our Calender
of Travel Trade Shows, and be sure to check
out the Latest
Travel News section for all the latest travel
industry news.
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