JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2012
News
Conference round-up
flyer programme [Sky Miles] were actually more valuable than those in higher tiers,” he said.
PROFITS AND PROPHETS In a one-to-one session with chief executive Sam Gilliland, I asked how the company defended its healthy profit margins at a time when others in travel are struggling. “If you look at the tech sector, the type of investment necessary to achieve the objectives required that we secure higher margins for our investors,” he replied. “If you were not, you wouldn’t get the investment.” And what of the future? Gilliland
is concerned about oil prices. “The economy can be moving along nicely but if oil is anything above US$100 a barrel, airlines will continue to with withdraw from the least profitable markets,” he said. “There are numerous markets that airlines need to service because of their network – for example, Las Vegas. Why would an airline pull out of Vegas? When oil prices were up to US$140 a barrel, airlines started pulling out.” It is a concern shared by the
company’s airline clients. Some 69 per cent said in a recent survey that fuel price instability was their biggest concern. What do the debt troubles
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at Travelport and wobbly economic markets mean for a future floating of Sabre on the stock market? “We have very patient owners and patient management. We are not going [to float] today or tomorrow,” said Gilliland. “When the market opens up and it looks like it makes sense, we will probably go out to market again. We have been private for four and a half years and I would be really surprised if [our private equity owners] didn’t have some ownership for the next four and a half years.” On Sabre’s court battle with
American Airlines, Gilliland was relatively tight-lipped: “It appears that AA is intent on using the legal system to negotiate new commercial agreements, while we believe there are more productive and less expensive ways of doing that.” n
Margie Logarta – managing editor of one of BBT’s sister titles, creative meetings magazine Mix – reports from the EIBTM meetings and events exhibition in Barcelona
MEETINGS AND EVENTS professionals remain optimistic about the state of networking in 2012, despite the global economic slowdown. The 2011 Industry Trends & Market Share Report, presented recently at EIBTM by the show’s industry analyst Rob Davidson, indicates the demand for corporate meetings is likely to approach peak 2008-levels by end of this year. It also concluded that rates for meeting venues will rise faster in 2012 than they did in 2011. Graeme Barnett, EIBTM
exhibition director, supported the encouraging picture, pointing to the show’s record number of pre-scheduled appointments, some 65,950, which indicated a 16 per cent increase year-on- year. Forty two new destinations, destination management companies and venues bumped up the exhibitor roster. “Globally, this industry is
responsible for 1.7 million jobs and US$106 billion of GDP,” said Barnett. “Our role is to provide the platform and environment for the sector to meet and conduct business. Ultimately, we achieved that and more, and delivered value and profitable results for our customers.”
The buoyant mood at EIBTM, Davidson explained, could be linked to the fact that the players were demonstrating they had learned through the years “to operate effectively within volatile markets, using innovative solutions and cooperating with each other in new and imaginative ways”. He stressed increasing financial uncertainty made it imperative for the industry to work “to be part of
growth and form new trade ties, a spike in the volume of meetings within the group is logical, said Davidson, who cited the booming interchange between Brazil and China as a prime example. He said: “It’s only logical, then, that corporate events and incentive travel trips take place in the countries where we do business.” Intensifying its trademark
focus on research, EIBTM organiser Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) launched a worldwide research programme, using the strength of a database that spans Europe, Asia-Pacific, China, Australia and the US, to establish twice-yearly, quality figures and information on volume and value trends, and major issues affecting the industry. Craig Moyes, group
“The industry is responsible for 1.7 million jobs and US$106 billion of GDP”
the solution, rather than a cost to businesses”. Also highlighted was the
price differential between popular events hubs (such as Paris, Vienna and London) and second- and third-tier cities, a factor likely to widen in coming months. Once this transpires, this will mean more opportunities for emerging metropolises to pitch and host conferences, exhibitions and incentive travel activities. With members of the BRIC
(Brazil, Russia, India and China) circle continuing to power global
exhibitions director for RTE’s global meetings industry portfolio, revealed the company’s plans to use email, social media websites and its individual event portals (including EIBTM for Europe, AIME for Australia, CIBTM for China, and GIBTM for the Middle East) to gather the findings. The initiative is expected to furnish valuable intelligence on countries and regions such as China and the Middle East, which are rapidly evolving into major players in the meetings market as inbound and outbound generators. The findings will also help industry members learn
where to direct their marketing activities and budgets. EIBTM’s Technology Village
benefited from the debut of the Future Events Experience, a 320sq m area dubbed ‘the sandbox’, which invited exhibitors to demonstrate upcoming products and services, and visitors to ‘play’ them, as well as providing the Chance2Speak corner for professionals to share insights about the sector’s next stage. Other features included interactive e-posters controllable by smartphones
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