Wednesday 17 February 2010: One spaceman, four Innovation Award winners, 58 high-end conference speakers, 180 world-class brands, 250 guests at the European Travel Buyer Awards, thousands of buyers including hundreds of the top end budget holders* and more than 5,200** of Europe’s leading corporate travel professionals descended on the Business Travel & Meetings Show last week.
BTMS 2010 – in its new two-day guise - buzzed with a renewed optimism not seen in the industry for some time as exhibitors met brand new prospects, buyers got their chequebooks out and deals were sealed.
Among the 180 exhibitors on the show floor were major corporate travel and meetings brands, including British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Emirates, Barclaycard Business, AMEX, IHG, HRG, CWT and Sabre Travel Network.
The second European Travel Buyer Awards were a huge success with 170 top European buyer guests, three times as many entries and double the number of category winners. And the after show party/inaugural Business Travel Club was equally popular.
Centre Stage was packed for the duration with Will Whitehorn (President of Virgin Galactic), David Kennedy (Climate Change Committee CEO), Norman Baker (Lib Dem Transport Secretary) and Professor Richard Scase (world-leading economist) among the highlights on the conference programme, Europe’s leading free to attend corporate travel and meetings educational programme.
“This time last year, our plan for BTMS 2010 was to increase the quality of the show’s audience, increase the ratio of buyers to exhibitors and improve return on investment for our exhibitors,” commented Event Director David Chapple.
“By changing BTMS to a two-day format, investing heavily in the Executive Buyer Programme, enhancing the educational offering and introducing new features such as BTMS Connect, the Advice Centre and the BT Club, we have achieved all of this and more.
“There’s no doubt that BTMS 2010 was a successful show. We know this because our visitors have told us. And our exhibitors have shown us. The equivalent of 78 per cent of this year’s space has already been rebooked, and a number of exhibitors have significantly increased their stand size for 2011.”
Feedback from visitors and exhibitors:
Dee Mani, Business Development Specialist, Click Travel: "Over the two days we saw over 50 potential new business leads, giving us new business prospects of over £30m. 30 of those clients were pre-booked meetings arranged through BTMS Connect, which was very user friendly and connected me instantly with the appropriate people."
Marc James, British Airways: “It’s been a great opportunity to meet potential customers, but also to meet existing customers to find out how we can improve as an airline.”
Mark Bowers, Commercial Manager, Redfern: “This year’s show has been hugely successful for us. We have met existing and prospective clients, but also signed new ones too.”
Declan Meighan, MD, Maxwell Lucas: “As a first time exhibitor, BTMS has been fantastic for us. BTMS Connect really helped us to target the right buyers and around 80 per cent of those who expressed an interest in us online visited the stand.”
Dawn Reay, Business Development Manager, East Coast Mainline: “East Coast is a regular exhibitor and this year has been very successful for us: we’ve generated a lot of business over the two days and have already booked our stand for next year.”
Emma Law, Environment Agency: “The show saves me a lot of time and effort on research – I can come to one event and get everything I need from one place.”
Helen Cahill, Director of Marketing, CWT: “Conversations that might take a few weeks – even months – to have, you can have with everyone in one afternoon at BTMS.”
Tracey Randell, Sales Director, Ian Allan Travel: “Two hours here is well spent. You get a concentrated number of travel management companies, airlines and other travel suppliers all under one roof.”
Visiting journalist Simon Calder, Senior Travel Editor, The Independent, added: “Business travel is an area that I don’t think gets enough attention so it’s great to come to the Business Travel & Meetings Show and see what everyone’s talking about, what the new products are, and what great ideas exist for improving business travel in the future.”
Business Travel & Meetings Show will return to Earls Court 2 on 8-9 February 2011.
NOTES TO EDITORS
* all delegates on the Executive Buyer Programme are pre-qualified by being responsible for a minimum annual budget of £3million.
** this figure is subject to ABC auditing
For more information:
Please contact Charlotte Le Rougetel or Dean Barrett at Bastion on 020 7421 7600
E: charlotte@bastion.co.uk; dean@bastion.co.uk
Follow us on Twitter – www.twitter.com/btms2010
About Business Travel & Meetings Show:
The Business Travel & Meetings Show is the number one dedicated event for suppliers of business travel and meetings products and services to showcase their latest offerings to buyers in Europe and the leading event for anyone who buys or manages company travel, books business trips and sources meeting venues. The Business Travel & Meetings Show takes place 8-9 February 2011 at Earls Court 2 in London. For more information and free registration please visit www.businesstravelshow.co.uk