EIBTM 2005 attracted a visitor audience from 78 countries and exhibitors from 95 different countries, providing one of the richest sources of international business opportunities in the Meetings and Incentives’ industry.  
 
Significant for 2005 was the growth in visitors from emerging markets, with new countries represented including: Chile, Latvia, Libya, Slovenia, Romania, Ukraine and Nepal.
 
EIBTM ensured yet again that its Hosted Buyer Programme had strict qualifying criteria, so that exhibitors were guaranteed to see buyers genuinely interested in their destination or product.

The targeted and more streamlined approach to the pre-scheduled appointments system also proved a huge hit, increasing business on the floor.

There were 3,000 more pre-scheduled appointments than 2004, with 27,000 in total - the equivalent of 19 appointments per minute throughout the event.
 
Mara Patterson, Manager of Business Events, Tourism Australia comments: “EIBTM 2005 has been very lively with good buyers from all markets. Barcelona is a buzzy fun city in the spirit of the show, so it’s been a good move from Geneva.”
 
2005 also saw EIBTM confirm its position as being the Best for Professional Education, with an extended and enhanced professional learning programme. All EIBTM’s seminars, forums and programmes, including the Association and Corporate Education Programmes, proved very popular and a strong incentive for buyers to attend EIBTM.
 
Brente Bratland, Convention Director, of Norway Convention Bureau comments, “We have been fully booked and the quality of buyers has been great! It’s clear that EIBTM took ideas from last year’s show to make this year even better. All our appointments turned up and we are pleased and happy, we have decided to increase our stand next year”.
 
EIBTM 2006 will see the launch of three new initiatives, which will run in addition to the 2005 programmes and are designed to offer increased educational opportunities for all sectors of the industry, these are:

·         The Agency Programme

·         The Independent Planners Forum

·         The Emerging Markets Symposium

Mandy Torrens, EIBTM Event Manager, comments: “Overall we are delighted with the performance of EIBTM 2005 and its growth. We welcomed many new exhibitors including Slovakia, Tunisia, Martinique, Busan, New Zealand and Miami, and provided increased stand space for some 40 exhibitors over 2004.
 
“Early indications suggest further growth for 2006 with over 85% of floor space already allocated for re-bookings and a number of participating companies including Greece, Turkey, Spain, Morocco and Argentina increasing their stand size.”
 
The top line (PRE-AUDITED) EIBTM 2005 figures are as follows: