Exhibition. Following the success of the inaugural City Fair, ETOA and ECM are pleased to announce that it will soon be possible to register for City Fair 2012, also to be held in London.
This year’s full-day workshop saw over 80 city tourist boards from 23 European countries, along with their partners, meeting with operators following ETOA’s long-established system of pre-arranged appointments. A broad mix of destinations attended and the event offered a unique opportunity for buyers to source product and also gain new ideas.
“City Fair provided a fresh approach to promoting European destinations to the operators, with a healthy mix of tourist boards and other key suppliers”, said Paul Wagner, Purchasing Director at Travel Plaza Europe. “This was extremely useful for the product teams to discuss business opportunities with a real destination focus. It was a really valuable day.”
City tourist boards showcased many new accommodation options, attractions and initiatives. Larger cities took several tables for all their partners; 14 in the case of Paris. “We and our partners found the fair very exciting and useful. It was well-organised and well-conceived, offering a wide range of opportunities to network and do business”, said Eugenio Raez of Paris Ile-de-France Tourist Board.
Meanwhile, smaller niche and emerging destinations were able to promote new ideas to a broad range of long and short-haul operators. “It was a great appointment system and very efficient format”, said Susanne Hoeller of Graz Tourismus.
