Meetings & Conventions: Incentive News
AFTER 15 YEARS IN GENEVA, SHOW WILL BE HELD IN SPAIN FROM 2004
TO 2009
EIBTM Moves to Barcelona
EIBTM ’04: The Montjuic 2 building awaits.
The European Incentive, Business Travel &
Meetings Exhibition, one of the largest trade shows for the
meetings industry, will relocate from Geneva to Barcelona in 2004.
The dates for the show also will change in 2004, moving from May to
Nov. 30 Dec. 2. The change is based on research conducted by
EIBTM’s organizers, Reed Travel Exhibitions, to determine the time
planners were least busy with programs.
Reed’s contract with Geneva’s Palexpo, the venue where the show
has been held since its inception in 1988, expires in 2003.
Barcelona was one of five European destinations considered; also
on the list were Geneva, Lisbon, Madrid and Vienna. Under the new
contract, Barcelona will host the show for five years; the event
will take place at the Montjuic 2, an exhibition building at the
city’s Fira de Barcelona trade fair complex. The Spanish city
impressed EIBTM’s management group with its enthusiasm and
commitment to hosting the show, according to Tom Nutley, managing
director of Reed Travel Exhibitions. Other key factors were its top
meeting facilities, hotels and appeal to visitors.
The move comes at a crucial time for the trade show: A rival
event, IMEX, will be launched in April 2003 in Frankfurt, Germany,
by the founders of EIBTM, Ray Bloom and Paul Flackett (the duo sold
EIBTM to Reed in 1997). Both shows appeal to the same audience and
host planners who attend. A number of EIBTM’s exhibitors told
M&C they will attend both events in 2003, then choose
to go to one or the other in the future.
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