USA - Over 1,500 buyers attended the inaugural AIBTM meetings tradeshow in Baltimore organised by Reed Travel Exhibitions.
Announcing the figures at the end of the show, 23 June, in the Baltimore Convention Center (BCC), AIBTM project director Steve Knight said he was "overwhelmed" by the results, adding that it was the best launch show in many years for the company.
Knight reported 789 exhibitors at the show, spread over 183 booths. Buyers had attended 11,200 apppointments and broke down into 740 registered hosted buyers and 806 other registered trade buyers.
Eighty-nine per cent of the buyers had come from North America, said Knight, with seven per cent from South America, three per cent from Europe and one per cent from Asia.
Agencies were well represented, accounting for 53 per cent of all buyers. Association and government meeting planners made up a further 24 per cent and corporate buyers 14 per cent of the total.
Group exhibition director of the RTE meetings and events portfolio, Craig Moyes, picked out the Education Day, Tuesday 21 June, as a highlight of the show, with 1,268 delegates attending the session.
President of the Baltimore Convention Bureau, Tom Noonan, told the end of show press conference it had been "a thrill" for his city to be selected for the first show in the Reed format.
"If you're not doing a hosted buyer event in five years time, then it's not likely to be a proper event," he said, describing AIBTM as "a game changer for us".
Together with the PCMA conference, held concurrently to AIBTM, Noonan noted 2,000 buyers had been in the city during the week.
Moyes said he intended to expand the show in 2012, using another additional hall at the BCC.
"I've never seen so many rebooks," he added.
RTE also reported 60 international industry leaders had attended AIBTM's first CEO Summit, 22 June.
The summit featured Frank Sesno, former CNN correspondent, anchor, and Washington, D.C., bureau chief as keynote speaker.
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