POST ITB WORKSHOPS ON OFFER AGAIN BY HOUSTON MARKETING Following the March 07 11 ITB in Berlin / Germany will Derek Houston [...]]]>

New post on Wolfganghthome’s Blog

Promoting travel to Africa – Post ITB ‘Spotlight on Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands’ workshops by Houston Marketing by Wolfgang’s East Africa and Indian Ocean Tourism reports POST ITB WORKSHOPS ON OFFER AGAIN BY HOUSTON MARKETING Following the March 07 11 ITB in Berlin / Germany will Derek Houston once again embark across Europe for his annual roadshow on Africa, this year covering Amsterdam, Prague and Warsow, the latter two aimed to further penetrate a fast growing market from countries in the past behind the Iron Curtain. The Amsterdam workshop will kick off the series at the Marriott Hotel in Amsterdam on March 12th, before moving on to the Czech capital Prague, where the Hotel Ambassador will be the chosen venue on March 14th. Final destination of this whistle stop tour will be the Polish capital Warsow where again the Marriott Hotel will be the venue for the workshop on the 15th March. Dereks post ITB Spotlight on Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands workshop tour has been hugely successful and often builds on contacts made at ITB or else allows to maximize presence of key staff in Europe for follow up trips to emerging markets and to continue working traditional markets in equal mix. The following added details were passed on by Houston Marketing for interested parties and more information can be found on their website via www.houstonmarketing.co.za . Notably will in April two African workshops follow in Johannesburg between 11th and 13th before moving to Harare for 16th and 17th. Amsterdam March 12th In conjunction with Anneli Bronkhorst of wwtourism in Holland we have organized Spotlight roadshows in Holland for the past 6 years. The Netherlands, as you all know is a very important market for Africa and the Indian Ocean Islands and ranks as one of the top European source markets for many African countries. Spotlight has now become a must attend function for the Dutch Tour operators who sell Africa/Indian Ocean. In March 2011 we had 79 attendees. Central Europe Prague Czech Republic 14 March and Warsaw Poland 15 March Two key emerging markets for Africa. Czech Republic There are a number of Africa specialist tour operators already in the market, and the Indian Ocean islands are already established beach destinations for the Czech upper-middle class. In 2010 3780 Czechs visited Kenya and for the first ten months of 2011 the figure shows a 51% increase! Poland is an overlooked and under-exploited market. With a population of 39 million it is the sixth largest state in the EU. In 2010 Kenya received 9761 Polish visitors and already for the first ten months of 2011 there has been a 62% increase. A number of other African countries are seeing a significant rise in arrivals from Poland. South Africa received nearly 10,000 Polish visitors in 2010 and the SA Embassy predicts a substantial growth in 2011 and 2012 Houston Travel Marketing Services have teamed up with Paddington Tucker of Travel e-SENSE based in Prague to jointly run this workshop. Travelesense will look after the logistics of the workshops and arrange all the advertising and promotions with the Trade press in both countries. Wolfgang’s East Africa and Indian Ocean Tourism reports | January 11, 2012 at 01:54 | Categories: Uncategorized | URL: http://wp.me/pTJa9-YY Comment    See all comments

Whilst PCMA (Professional Convention Management Association) has created an exclusive strategic partnership agreement with RTE’s IBTM [...]]]>

29 Nov 2011

AIBTM,voted by the industry as the ‘Best of Show’in the US this year,has announced a unique event partnership with PCMA,as well as collaborations with SITE and ACTE to deliver America Meetings Week for AIBTM 2012.

Pre-show expectations were more than met with 64,950 Hosted Buyer pre-scheduled appointments leading the way to substantial business being [...]]]> The sunshine of Barcelona shone brightly on EIBTM 2011 which closed today having delivered three days of powerful business opportunities and connections as the annual international event for the meetings industry broke all its own records.

Pre-show expectations were more than met with 64,950 Hosted Buyer pre-scheduled appointments leading the way to substantial business being conducted on the exhibition floor.

“Globally, this industry is responsible for 1.7 million jobs and $106 billion ofGDP. Our role is to provide the platform and environment for the sector to meet and conduct business. Ultimately we believe we have achieved that and more and delivered value and profitable results for our customers” commented Graeme Barnett, EIBTM Event Director.

As the show closes today, early indications of just how successful this year’s event has been are recorded in the pre-audited figures.  All trade show attendee numbers for Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) are subject to an independent ABC Audit to provide total transparency to all stakeholders.

Over 15,300 meetings industry professionals attended EIBTM over the three days including a total visitor and buyer attendance of 9,262 (last year’s audited numbers were 8,395), 10.3% up on 2010, of which 3,934 were Hosted Buyers (last year’s audited numbers were 3,693 ) delivering a 6.5% increase on Hosted Buyer attendance from 2010.

With more than 100 Professional education sessions – over 3,000 delegates attended seminars including those held in the Future Events Experience.

Eric Bakermans, Meetings & Conventions Marketing Manager, Netherlands Board of Tourism & Conventions summed up many exhibitor’s experiences of the business taking place on the show floor.  “We have been sold out solid, which means that EIBTM offers excellent business opportunities for the Dutch Business Events industry.”

“We have always managed to close a lot of business at EIBTM, but this year it has been especially encouraging.  To start with, it is very well organized and on top of that we have more than 80% of the appointments and had more contacts than last year.  We have also closed group bookings of approximately 2000 persons in various groups for 2012” added Esteban Miso, Solways Group, Congress & Incentives Department.

Sara Elleni, General Manager Chile en Colores DMC spoke of the high level of quality contacts with decision and purchasing power that they met with during the show, “We always have high expectations of EIBTM and this year all our appointments have been with high quality contacts.  We even had 9 people with appointments that we didn’t expect and 3 have given us strong potential business”.

Returning exhibitor Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces spoke of how after 5 years of absence their participation this year at EIBTM met their business objectives.  “The most important thing this year was to show our brand and educate clients, we are very satisfied by the appointments we have had, the high quality of Hosted Buyers and the incentive groups that we have closed with Italy and Belgium” said Kenny Teo, Director of Sales.

“Barcelonacertainly delivered the show we were really hoping for this year and we couldn’t have had better weather to lift the spirits for this industry.  Despite the global economic turmoil, the quality and professionalism of those determined to do business and drive the industry forward is testament to why this year’s event has been such a success” said Barnett.

 EIBTM 2012 will take place from November 27 – 29.  

Twenty exhibitors representing 15 countries in Africa participated and were very impressed by the quality of attendees who were overwhelmingly senior Managers and [...]]]> The Post WTM Spotlight seashow  took the Nordic countries by storm last week.  207 Trade attendees representing 146 different companies/organisations  attended the four sessions -three of which were held on cruise ships.

Twenty exhibitors representing 15 countries in Africa participated and were very impressed by the quality of attendees who were overwhelmingly senior Managers and decision makers.Several very substantial deals were concluded during the workshops and before the workshops ended some exhibitors reported that bookings were already being processed back in their offices.

Another  feature of the workshops were the very substantial prizes offered by the exhibitors including air tickets with Air Namibia, Air France /KLM and Kenya Airways.

Exhibitors were of the opinion that the Nordic countries were virtually

unaffected by the euro crisis and the  desire to travel to Africa was on the increase.Norway with its very high standard of living is an exciting potential market.

Attendance statistics

COPENHAGEN

Personnel attending: Director/Managers -29; Sales/Consultants -18; Press 4 ; Others 3
Companies attending: Travel Agents 15; Incentive 4; Tour operator 15; Press 4; Embassy 1

OSLO

Personnel attending:Managers/Directors -30: Consultants /Sales -22;Press -4;Others – 4
Companies attended :Travel Agency -6;Tour operators-27;Airline 1;Incentive Travel -3;Embassy-1;Press -4

Stockholm

Personnel attending: Owner/Director 20 Consultants 8 Embassy 7 Press 8 Others 3

Companies attending:Tour Operators 11 Travel Agencies 10 Incentive 4 Press 8 Embassy 2 Others 3

Helsinki

Personnel attending: Directors/Managers 25 Consultants/Sales 16 Embassy 2 Press 3

Companies attending: Tour operators 11 Travel Agencies 12 Press 2 Embassy 2

Some of the comments recorded during the Seashow included:

SA Ambassador to Norway

We need to do Spotlight on Africa workshops because of the long relationship Africa has with the Nordic countries. The Norwegians are wealthy people and they need the sun, enjoy different cultures ans share our love for nature.

This is a platform for the tourism industry to experience and see Africa in one venue

Julian Burton y Mones – Blue Bay Hotels

Spotlight on Africa workshops are superb opportunity to meet a wide range of potential business concentrated into  such a short window of time

Johan Brits – Getaway Tours and Safaris

Direct business dealings with major Scandinavian tour operators– quality trade!…bookings already being received in my office.

Mari Fiede – African Profile Namibia

The Nordics travel trade are really interested in new exciting products and Africa is on their bucket list

Liss-Carina Lund  - Jambo Tours Norway

Very interesting and learn a lot about various destinations in Africa.  Made good contacts  and touched base with contacts already made previous year. All in one venue.

Heidi Lium – Affinion International

Updated myself on new products and experiences in Africa. In a short time you can meet various people and take note of different developments.

Tone Eike – Kultur-Reiser

The place to make contact and experience the warm  personal feeling of Africa and its people . It is informative and informal.

Michael Horn Le Voyageur Madagascar
I have also been positively surprised by the quality and number of buyers in Copenhagen, Oslo and Helsinki, and had some nice new contacts in Sweden as well

Robert Cullens – Safaris in Style

Value for money! Big supporter of Spotlight on Africa workshops. we have some really exciting mega deals in the pipeline from the seashow

Babra Adoso – Asyanut Safaris

Spotlight  workshops in Nordic countries are very good for new contacts and new prospects. A destination like Uganda received a lot of  exposure.

John Wambugu Aberdare Safari Hotels

The quality of invited buyers who attended was better then my expectations and we are looking foward to closing some good deals soon.

Trade Journalist Eero Havia – EH-Avia ltd Matkavikko Publi Press

Important platform to make reliable contacts in Africa. Travel products are varied and interesting.

Roberto Cerea TransAfrica Togo
It was great experience to meet so many Tour Operators interested in knowing more about West Africa!

Maxwell Moyo African Sun Hotels Zimbabwe
The attendance and quality of the buyers was indeed amazing. Thanks to you guys!

Matilda Ullberg Avia Reps Sweden

I talked to one product manager in Norway that does production for the entire world and are always really busy. I said that I was happy and surprised that she had time to come. Her reply was that this show is something she definitely prioritizes because of the quality of the show. So that definitely says a lot.  Keep up the good work!

Derek Houston’s next European roadshow is scheduled for March 12-15 in Amsterdam, Prague and Warsaw and we plan to repeat the  Nordics seashow for the 5th year running from November 12-16 2012

ITB Trend report
Of Europe’s nationalities, Swedes are travelling 7% more in 2011, making them the second-biggest outbound growth market after the Swiss (9%). By contrast, Germans are taking only 1% more trips than they did last year. Overall, trips out of Europe have increased by 4% this year.

View the Photo Album – Spotlight Nordic Seashows

Holland  probably ranks as one of the Top three European source markets for Africa while there has been a healthy surge  in tourists travelling to Africa from Poland and  Czech [...]]]>  My  traditional Post ITB march Spotlight roadshow in Europe offers exhibitors  an interesting mix of a  major core market and two exciting emerging markets says Derek Houston.

Holland  probably ranks as one of the Top three European source markets for Africa while there has been a healthy surge  in tourists travelling to Africa from Poland and  Czech Republic .

The programme for the Post ITB European workshops

 Monday March 12   -Amsterdam -evening workshop at Marriott

Wednesday March 14 – - Prague morning workshop at Hotel Ambassador

Thursday March 15 -Warsaw - morning workshop at Marriott

Each workshop can be booked individually or you can participate at all three.

 For the Fact sheet  and more market information on the four countries click here

Read the 2011 Show Report from Stephanie Moss of Solutions Group who attended GIBTM 2011

18 maart 2011   09:45:50Op de Spotlight workshop die afgelopen dinsdagavond plaats vond in het Parkhotel in Amsterdam, kon niet alleen informatie worden ingewonnen over Afrika en Israël, maar werden ook prachtige prijzen weggegeven. Één van [...]]]> Reisagenten bijeen op Spotlight workshop

16 maart 2011   15:15:54

Doron Dekker wint Kenia reis op Spotlight workshop

18 maart 2011   09:45:50Op de Spotlight workshop die afgelopen dinsdagavond plaats vond in het Parkhotel in Amsterdam, kon niet alleen informatie worden ingewonnen over Afrika en Israël, maar werden ook prachtige prijzen weggegeven. Één van de gelukkige winnaars was Doron Dekker van VakantieXperts. Zij won een reis naar Kenia! Doron ontving 2 tickets van Kenya Airways en won tevens een verblijf in het all inclusive beach resort Turtle Bay, én een verblijf in het Basecamp Explorer in de Masaai Mara.