In an interview with meetme at
CIBTM, Weijia also referred to statis- tics from ICCA indicating that China was placed as the 10th city worldwide for inter- national conferences. Showcasing Beijing as a destination was
key in supporting the need to attract more international business and a great effort was placed on wooing international buyers with a dramatic event at The Great Wall on the second night of CIBTM, demonstrating some unique experiences that are only avail- able in the world’s most visited city. Local and international exhibitors were
split fairly equally across the CIBTM show floor, but with more potential for expansion especially from the domestic market given its universe and performance. Jeffrey Xu, CIBTM Project Manager, said
the industry response to this year’s show had been overwhelming with the number of cor- porate and association buyers from Beijing doubling. CIBTM 2012 also received a 36 percent boost in hosted buyers, after show organisers increased efforts to raise aware- ness about the economic potential of the meetings, incentives, conferences and exhi- bitions industry.
The event also featured China Meetings
Week, a dedicated professional education programme that ran simultaneously with the exhibition and lasted until September 17. Offering 19 exclusive sessions, the China Meetings Week was credited for raising the profile of the meetings industry in China. “The professional education programme
helped China to fully realise its potential to attract large-scale international corporate and association events,” said Xu. China’s meetings market has witnessed
growth in the number of events organ- ised by domestic planners. The uptrend also points to an increase in the volume of inbound events hosted by international plan- ners to China, as well as outbound business travel from China to other parts of Asia.
CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS As with all IBTM events, a key component of the education and conference stream was the unveiling of market research that serves as a barometer of buyer and supplier behav- iours and preferences over the previous year, as well as a look forward at 2013. There were a total of 19 educational ses-
sions at CIBTM this year delivered through strategic partnerships with leading asso- ciations, including Meetings Professional International (MPI), International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA) and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives (ACTE). The results of the 2012 IBTM Global
Sun Weijia Gala dinner on The Great Wall
Meetings Industry Research China and Asia focus showed that the region contin- ues to offer huge potential for growth with an increase in volume of events, budgets and new destinations predicted.
An impressive 62 percent of buyers (77
percent of whom are based in Asia, nine percent in Europe and six percent in the Americas) predicted more events for 2013 and 72 percent anticipated working with new destinations. The research study was based on the
business decisions and challenges of 579 professionals (332 buyers and 247 suppliers from the meetings and events industry) as they move into a new age of global event planning. When considering the buyers’ top 10
countries of choice for holding events in Asia, China was most popular with 62 percent of all participants selecting it as the most used destination. Hong Kong followed with 45.5 percent and 35.9 percent of respondents selected Thailand. When asked to comment on the factors
which would most impact the increase of meetings and events business, frequently mentioned were: the global and local econ- omy, air fare increases and currency infla- tion, increasing demand and the burgeoning industry in China, product and destination development, staffing requirements and creative new ideas.
MEETINGS WEEK
China Meetings Week featured four bespoke Hosted Buyer tours, tailored to familiarise buyers from around the world with what the city of Beijing and surrounding areas has to offer the meetings and events industry.
Itineraries included excursions to the Temple of Heaven, Lao She Tea House, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City, National Museum of China, Beijing National Stadium and 798 Art Zone.
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