Calendar of Events - Travel Trade Shows and Exhibitions in 2016 and 2017

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. 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 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 JATA Tourism Expo 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.

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.