The
ITB and
WTM, held each year in Berlin and London
respectively, are two of the biggest travel trade shows in the world and
as such are hugely popular. Book flights and accommodation well in
advance as both Berlin and London get very busy.
The EIBTM and IMEX are without a doubt
the best MICE shows in the world, although AIME in
Australia is also a good event aimed at the MICE market.
The
Arabian Travel Market is an excellent show
if you are interested in selling the Middle
East or attracting customers from the wealthy Middle
Eastern markets. To
make the most of this show try and do sales trips after or before the show
to some surrounding areas such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar,
Abu Dhabi, Bahrain
etc.
For Asia, there has traditionally been
two major shows in the region. The
ASEAN
Tourism Forum, or
ATF
as it is more commonly known,
and the
PATA Travel Mart. In recent years the
ATF
has seen somewhat of a rebound and is fast becoming the
"must attend" event it once was. Rotating between
different ASEAN countries every January, the
ATF
is an excellent show for the industry to see the best of
what ASEAN has to offer. It is
especially important to attend the ATF when it takes
place in countries such as Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos,
Myanmar etc., as these countries still have a lot of
undiscovered tourism potential and the ATF allows you to
meet sellers from that country you may not normally meet
elsewhere. The
PATA Travel Mart, much like the association behind it, has unfortunately not managed to
rebound as successfully as the ATF, and the popularity of the show
very much now depends on its location rather than the
quality of buyers / sellers.
Learn more about:
ASEAN Tourism Forum 2018 and see:
HD videos from ATF 2016.
In
2008, Messe Berlin the organisers of the mammoth ITB
Berlin, put their full weight behind the inaugural ITB Asia.
Over the years, it has grown and grown, and is now linked with
TravelRave which is Singapore Tourism Board's week-long travel
industry "festival". TravelRave attracts some very
exciting events, such as Aviation Outlook Asia, Hotel Technology
Conference, Tourism Destination Investment Conference, WIT, Asia
Travel Leaders Summit as well as the World Travel Awards and
Singapore Experience Awards. While all this may seem like a good
thing, in our eyes - as a media outlet - there is too much going
on, and it would be far better if the different components were
taking place at different times.
Another important travel trade show is the
Tourism Expo Japan, formerly known as JATA Tourism Expo. This trade show has the
ambitious aim of becoming the biggest in Asia. With Japan being
such an important outbound market, even with the weak global
economy, then this will always be one of the most important events
on a calendar year. Traditionally JATA and the World Travel Fair,
also in Tokyo, rotated annually. Now they have combined, and a few
years ago they set up an inbound component to the show. This was
very big news, as JATA had always been about the important, and
lucrative, outbound market, and, had pretty much ignored the
inbound. But with the weak global economy, the country had to
start looking for new revenue streams, and of course one of them
is tourism. The
Tourism Expo Japan takes place annually in
September, and is a show you should attend. There are many
delegates not just from Japan but also, Asia Pacific and around
the world. See:
HD Videos from JATA Tourism Expo 2016.
For luxury, the ILTM series which started in
Cannes but has grown in recent years to include Japan and China
among others, is one of the best.
If you manage a travel or travel trade
show which is not listed, or you would like more info on
one of the travel shows below please send us the
information by
contacting us.
2017 |
2017 |
2017 |
16-20 January |
ASEAN
Tourism Forum |
Singapore |
12-22 February |
AIME |
Melbourne,
Australia |
27 Feb - 1 Mar |
ILTM Japan |
Tokyo, Japan |
8-12 March |
ITB Berlin |
Berlin, Germany |
24-27 April |
ATM |
Dubai, UAE |
19-25 June |
Paris Airshow |
Paris, France |
13-15 September |
PATA Travel Mart |
Macau |
21-24 September |
Tourism Expo Japan |
Tokyo, Japan |
2018 |
2018 |
2018 |
22-26 January |
ASEAN
Tourism Forum |
Chiang Mai, Thailand |
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In addition to the major travel shows listed
above, there are also hundreds, if not thousands of conference
events, which cover every topic imaginable. These conference-type
events are not exhibitions, instead they tend to have speakers,
panels and discussion groups, and can be very expensive to attend.
As with anything, some are useful, but the majority are just pure
money making exercises. We have attended some, which while very
interesting, were not worth the thousands of dollars that the organiser was trying to charge. Some events have so many speakers
that their entire audience is made up of speakers!
To combat this growing trend, a lot of the
leading travel trade shows such as the
ITB Berlin,
ITB Asia,
WTM,
JATA Tourism Expo,
ATM,
ATF etc have conferences attached to the show, some are
official and some not, so do check with the organiser what
conferences are available. These conferences, which are attached
to the trade shows, are generally of a higher quality than stand
alone events and also enable you to save money and time by doing
both at the same time.
See other recent news regarding:
Interviews,
Pictures,
Videos,
Travel Trade,
JATA,
ATF
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