Following sustained year-on-year growth since its inaugural exhibition, IMEX – the worldwide exhibition for the meetings and incentive travel industry – has today announced further growth for its 2008 exhibition with record numbers of exhibitors seeking bigger stands.

The hosted buyer programme is also expected to continue its worldwide expansion, due to significant increased demand.

This expansion is supported by several years of sustained and steady growth in the global meetings industry added to IMEX’s now well-established reputation for delivering new business opportunities year-on-year.

The demand for increased exhibition space is widespread across different territories and a variety of business sectors.

Spain, the Czech Republic, Malta, The Canaries, Argentina, Greece, Kuoni and Steigenberger Hotels are among those exhibitors who have already confirmed sizeable space increases for 2008.

New exhibitors confirmed include Capella Hotels & Resorts, GHM Hotels, China and the Chicago Convention & Tourism Bureau.

Explaining their decision to increase the size of their stand, Julia Hartmann, Global Sales Support at The Steigenberger Hotel Group said, “We first exhibited at IMEX in 2005 and the show turned out to be a big success for the Frankfurt based hotel group, so Steigenberger became a regular exhibitor. When all the Steigenberger brands came together to exhibit on the one stand in 2007 the result was 650 client contacts with the potential for more than 2.5 million euros of business each year - a good reason to increase our IMEX stand by 100 per cent.”

Commenting on the company’s decision to increase exhibition space at IMEX next year, Marc Schegg, Head of Marketing at Kuoni, says, “IMEX plays an important role in our sales and marketing activities.  Last year's IMEX was very successful for us and we hope that, with double the stand space in 2008, we will build-on this positive experience!”

Continued growth of the reach and quality of the IMEX hosted buyer programme, which this year welcomed over 3,500 international buyers to Frankfurt; including heightened demand for the long-haul programme from the United States, Asia and Eastern Europe, appear to be among the reasons why exhibitors have responded so positively.

Says Ray Bloom, IMEX Chairman, “Year on year we put an enormous effort into qualifying new buyers for our hosted programme to ensure that we maintain our high quality standards and deliver outstanding business opportunities for our exhibitors. This year in particular, the result of that focus has been a noticeably stronger appetite for increased space in 2008. This is also encouraging news for the wider meetings industry too.  There’s a widespread buoyancy and eagerness to the market at the moment which is extremely rewarding to be a part of.”

The IMEX hosted buyer programme is also set to grow next year. It will be marked by a continued focus on all the main European markets with further expansion expected from across Eastern Europe. The long-haul buyer programme will again concentrate on North American meeting planners, although buyer groups from India, South Africa, Mexico, Brazil, Australia and the Middle East have also already been confirmed.

IMEX 2008 will take place from 22-24 April in Hall 8, Messe Frankfurt, Germany.