EUROPE – IMEX Chairman Ray Bloom welcomed visitors and exhibitors to IMEX 2013 in Messe Frankfurt, expecting a total of 14,000 international meetings professionals to attend over the three days of the show.
Four events took place even prior to the doors opening in Hall 8 of the Messe, 21 May. A new corporate networking event, Exclusively Corporate @ IMEX was hosted at Rocco Forte Hotels’ Villa Kennedy and drew 70 corporate planners, 20 May.
“Meetings remain the dominant part of corporate business for us,” said Sir Rocco Forte, who noted all 11 of his hotels were represented on stand at IMEX.
Association Day attracted 300 executives with an evening reception for 900.
Global incentives association Site celebrated its 40th anniversary, also on the eve of IMEX 2013, with Site Nite Europe.
Bloom told an opening press conference that 35 government ministers were taking part in the Politicians Forum. He added there was ever more need to get the message over of the power of meetings for driving growth.
Bloom underlined the importance of partnerships for the show. “The ongoing support of the German Convention Bureau underpins the success of IMEX,” he said.
Day One of IMEX also saw the release of the German Meeting and Events Barometer.
Joachim Scholz, Head of Market Research and Statistics at the German National Tourist Board (DZT), said the report was the only comprehensive survey to examine the entire German event market. Over 6,500 suppliers were interviewed, as we as 12,700 organisers.
“Clearly international demand for meetings in Germany is increasing,” said Herr Scholz, noting the country was the No.1 city in Europe, again, according to the latest ICCA rankings and closing the gap on the USA for top spot.
A visitor spend of 57.2bn euros was attracted in 2012, according to the survey and business trips to conferences and meetings totaled 3.3m.
MD of the GCB, Matthias Schultze, added that “with 362 delegates, the German meetings industry has done more than simply improve on its own previous results. It is now making an ever-larger contribution to the wider economy”.
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