More meetings content at future shows
The Business Travel Show (BTS) held annually in London, said today (August 4) it is changing its name to the Business Travel and Meetings Show for 2010.
A statement from show organiser Centaur Exhibitions, said the event "will move from primarily focusing on business travel to including more meetings based education content and suppliers."
This reflected the increasing role buyers played in either booking venues, managing meetings spend or setting up meetings policies.
David Chapple, event director, said: "Over the last few years we've seen two trends emerging.
"Meetings are increasingly becoming the responsibility of travel and procurement professionals and in response, traditional travel suppliers are incorporating meetings into their customer offerings.
"By reflecting these industry trends in the content, the show will provide visitors with a greater variety of new ideas, suppliers and education that now fits with their business needs."
After its show in London this year in February, BTS announced several changes to its format for the 2010 event.
These included a reduction of the show from three to two days, a "host of new exhibitors' packages" and enhancements to the executive buyer programme which was launched at this year's show.
Mr Chapple said today that he expected 200 business travel and meetings suppliers to attend the 2010 event at which there will be "a forward-thinking conference programme to reflect the changing needs of the audience."
Research by BTS after this year's show found that 23.5% of buyers were responsible for meetings budget with a spend of more than £500,000 while 8% of those had a spend in excess of £10m.
A growing number of companies also had a meetings policy.
"The research demonstrates to us that board rooms are becoming more astute about the importance of adopting a formal meetings policy and they are giving this responsibility to their travel and procurement departments to realise the significant savings that can be made.
"This mirrors the increasing focus of meetings within the business travel function and reinforces our decision to evolve the show and incorporate meetings into our name," Mr Chapple said.
The BTS is the second UK travel body to change its name this year to incorporate "meetings."
The Institute of Travel Management (ITM) became the Institute of Travel and Meetings earlier this year.
www.businesstravelandmeetingsshow.com