A record number of hosted buyers attended last month’s
Business Travel Show from 27 different countries.
There were a total of 452 hosted buyers in attendance, up 6
per cent on 2019’s 425, with 179 of them being first-time delegates. Between
them, they took part in 4,000 pre-scheduled appointments with exhibitors,
marking the show’s highest-ever number of booked meetings.
Overall, visitor numbers to Business Travel Show and Travel
Technology Europe, which took place at Olympia London, were marginally lower
than last year. Organiser Northstar Travel Group believes the 2 per cent drop
can be almost wholly attributed to the Covid-19 outbreak, which led to
last-minute cancellations from pre-registered attendees from northern Italy and
Asia.
The final attendee figure was 8,646 including exhibitor
stand staff, with travel professionals attending from 55 countries. Pure
visitor numbers reached 5,991 – 175 fewer across both shows than in 2019. There
were a total of 217 companies exhibiting, accounting for 10,106 sqm, while 73
per cent of floor space was re-booked onsite for the 2021 event, which is
taking place on 24-25 February at its new home, ExCeL London.
David Chapple, Northstar Travel Group UK MD, commented: “The
global economy is being battered by the coronavirus outbreak, and the
exhibitions and travel industries are among the hardest hit. We feel very lucky
that we didn’t have to cancel our events and incredibly proud to have secured
record hosted buyer numbers despite Covid-19.”
businesstravelshow.com