Baltimore. From Boston to Dallas, Las Vegas to New York, Texas to Washington, those representing the US that took part in the first ever AIBTM and America Meetings Week, have voted it an overwhelming success in delivering business and business prospects.
Gary Musich of Atlantic City Convention & Visitors Authority said: “The format is excellent. For a first time show it’s awesome. We have seen a lot of new faces, that’s the biggest deal. The industry needed a new format and this is it. We couldn’t be more pleased.”Mike Fegley, VP of American Sales for IHG commented: “I have an army of sales people and a lot of hotels from around the world, plus we brought in some 60 Hosted Buyers. By 10am on the first day we had 450 appointments on our books – it has been phenomenal for us.”
International exhibitors also represented on the show floor were happy to add their praise of the organizers for the quality Hosted Buyer audience and the fact that trade visitors were also only allowed admission after they were qualified.Gareth Walters, Director of Sales, Emirates Palace commented: “The first AIBTM has proven to be a success. The quality of the hosted buyers has been tremendous and we are leaving the show with live enquiries for groups, conferences and incentives. The US market is tangibly interested in new International destinations and AIBTM is the essential showcase that destinations, dmcs and hotels need to attend to ensure the relationships and awareness is in place.”
Alessandro Sansa from the Madrid Convention Bureau, Spain said: “We are trying to promote the city of Madrid and attract new meetings business – there are 9 cities in the US directly linked to Madrid with flights so we are here to tell the US meetings industry that we are their home in Europe. We have had a great positive experience here.”
Part of the successful education content included 3 sessions on technology. “The seminars I attended were interesting. Mobile apps and how to make better use of social networking are some things I want to learn more about”, said Mark McDonald of Goodyear Tire & Rubber.
For the first time in the history of the US meetings industry AIBTM held an Education Day aimed at providing insightful topics of interest to both buyers and suppliers. The program was overbooked for every one of the 21 sessions.
Every RTE event is independently audited and official figures will not be available until this is achieved. However end of show stats include the following:
Exhibitors: 789
Total number of booths: 183
Registered Hosted Buyers: 740
Total number of appointments: 11,200
Registered Trade Buyers: 806
CEO Summit: 55
Attending Media: 66
Other highlights of the first America Meetings Week included the CIC Hall of Leaders Gala, the PCMA Annual Conference, various networking events and a unique opportunity for a 1,000 of the AIBTM community who won tickets to see the U2 live concert as part of their world tour. The evening took place at the M and T Stadium in Baltimore, in front of an audience of 75,000 people.
The next AIBTM will take place from June 21-23 2012 in Baltimore.
