EIBTM's Middle East presence

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EIBTM will see a significant Middle Eastern presence.

EIBTM will see a significant Middle Eastern presence at its event in Barcelona this December.

Event organiser Reed Travel and Exhibitions (RTE) said the reason for the increase was the development of GIBTM and the growing understanding in the Middle East meetings industry of the importance of such events.

"One of the strategies for launching GIBTM was that it would widen the appeal of our flagship event, EIBTM, to Middle East destinations and we always knew that would take time to convert," said group exhibition director, Paul Kennedy MBE.

EIBTM will see a significant expansion of Dubai's presence, as well as Sharjah's first display at a meetings show outside of the Gulf and the return of Oman, four years after its last exhibition at EIBTM.

"We are seeing lots of new stand sharers or partners on all of the Middle East and North African stands," he said.

"We are also seeing the debut of Iran at EIBTM on a very sizeable scale and this will be only the second international meetings event Iran has participated in," Kennedy added.

In order to assist Iran, RTE is working alongside a number of Middle Eastern destinations to help develop Iran's own destination marketing strategy.

"We are particularly concentrating on the meetings sector, because that's our sector and that's why we use the mantra that these events are for meetings professionals, organised by meetings professionals," Kennedy said.

RTE has spent significant time travelling to each destination to present the thinking behind the shows in order to emphasise the value in taking part, according to Kennedy.

"The value proposition of a hosted buyer-led show is enormous," he said.

"To put it in perspective EIBTM is running 16 post-fam tours and we've been discussing with each of the destinations how to make them slick and professional."

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