: : back to news : :
|
18 June 2009
ITTFA Welcomes Moroccan Travel Market and Vakantiebeurs
ITTFA, the International Tourism Trade Fairs Association, welcomes two
new members for 2009, MTM of Morocco and Vakantiebeurs, the Utrecht
based event. The shows join other prestigious market leaders in the
tourism exhibition industry, including TUR, Gothenburg; MITT in Moscow
and TTG Incontri, Rimini, whose aim, as part of ITTFA, is to promote
the industry and raise standards.
Moroccan Travel Market is held in Marrakech in January each year and
despite being a relatively new show, coming into its third year, it
hosted over 260 exhibiting companies from 23 countries, attracting over
10,000 trade visitors at its show last month and looks set to develop
further for next year. An excellent business platform, the fair is the
ideal opportunity for all Moroccan and foreign tourism professionals to
expose their products and services and meet fellow professionals,
decision makers and buyers from around the world. Enjoying a
strategically important geographical position, situated between Europe
and Africa, Morocco, through the Moroccan Travel Market, is the ideal
link to facilitate the development of the North-South exchanges.
“ITTFA
will help us open up internationally,” said General Manager, Kamal
RAHAL ESSOULAMI. “ Admission to the ITTFA will consolidate our event’s
international standing and provide an opportunity for additional
international exhibitors to reach Moroccan travel professionals. We
look forward to sharing opinions and experiences with our ITTFA
partners and to contributing to increased outbound travel bookings from
Morocco for new international exhibitors.”
Vakantiebeurs, on the otherhand, is a long established show, having
held its 39th event in January at the Jaarbeurs Utrecht exhibition
centre. Referred to as the leading event in the Benelux travel market,
this year the show covered 88,000 m2, hosting 1633 exhibitors from over
160 countries with trade visitor numbers reaching 18,000, (in addition
to 115.000 consumer visitors). According to research carried out by VNU
Exhibitions amongst visitors during the show, the top European
destinations are Italy, France, Spain, Scandinavia, Greece, and
Germany, in that order with the Far East being the most popular long
haul destination. A well respected show in the travel trade exhibition
arena, Vakantiebeurs has deservedly much to offer and ITTFA will indeed
benefit from the experience and industry expertise of this long
standing show.
Bart
Strijker, Project Manager, comments, “Forging stronger relationships
with ITTFA member shows and other major players in the international
tourism trade fair industry will enable us to reach further into
international markets, both established and developing. We look forward
to the benefits our membership will bring and to supporting the
continued efforts of ITTFA to raise the exhibition industry’s profile
and standing, which is particularly crucial in these current times of
economic downturn".
ITTFA
is dedicated to the continual development of the travel trade show
industry, increasing participation and setting high standards across
Europe and worldwide. Recent changes to entry requirements and the
annual fee structure mean that membership is more accessible to smaller
and developing shows, as well as more established ones. This underlines
one of the primary goals of the Association as it strives to improve
travel trade exhibition standards across all markets and help maximize
the benefits for both visitors and exhibitors. The association
continues to maintain, and demand, high standards from all its members
as well as those seeking application and in so doing to strive for
greater professionalism in the tourism exhibitions industry.
Tom
Nutley, has been chairman of ITTFA since he helped to establish the
association in 1992. "Growth markets are an integral part of the future
development and success of travel exhibitions and I am delighted that
we have this opportunity to build stronger relationships with Morocco,
an exciting country with plenty of scope for development and growth.
These new growth markets are balanced by the traditional, strong
European markets in which we have some excellent tourism trade shows.
We warmly welcome Vakantiebeurs, a strong force in the tourism
exhibition industry and look forward to working with this long standing
and professional show. Encouraging new and improved relationships in
the international tourism trade fair industry is a key objective for
the association which will further enable all of our members to
maximise the tremendous opportunities worldwide".
|