ITE & MICE Hong Kong 2011 Continued Setting New Records
Celebrating its 25th anniversary, the Travel Expo this year had record numbers of exhibitors, new official participations / pavilions, exhibiting countries and regions, visitors in trade days and in public days!The Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR Government, Mr. Donald Tsang, sent again this year a Message to welcome all participants of ITE & MICE! Officiating the Opening were Mr. Philip YUNG, Commissioner for Tourism, Tourism Commission of the Government of the HKSAR; Ms WU Yi Huan, Vice Mayor of The Shenzhen Municipal People’s Government, Ms. MA Jie, Deputy Director General of China National Tourism Administration; and Mr. SHAN Gangxin, Deputy Director General of China National Tourism Administration. Mr. YUNG, Mr. SHAN and Mr. Naoyoshi YAMADA, Vice Commissioner of Japan Tourism Agency delivered speech at the Opening.
Other Guests taking part in the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony at the Opening included H.E. Mr. So MARA, Secretary of State of Tourism of Cambodia; Mr. Anthony Lau, Executive Director of Hong Kong Tourism Board; Mr João Manual Costa Antune, Director of Macau Government Tourist Office; and Mr. Michael Wu, Chairman of the Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong etc. Please click here to download the photo of the Ribbon Cutting Ceremony.
This year, ITE & MICE had a record number of 10 new official participations / pavilions from Bhutan, Brazil, Cuba, Hungary, Mexico, Moscow, Nepal, Seychelles, South Africa and Tunisia. In all, there were a total of 56 exhibiting countries and regions this year, which is also a new record and an increase of 21.7 % over last year.
Over 60% of the exhibiting countries and regions were from the Americas & Oceania, Africa, Europe, and the Middle East, and over 80% of all exhibitors are from outside Hong Kong testify to the highly international profile of exhibitors of ITE & MICE.
In all, the Travel Expo this year had 3.7% more or 648 international exhibitors; 3% more or 11820 visitors in the trade days; and 0.6% more or 69320 visitors in the public days. All are new record numbers for ITE & MICE, made despite countries continue tightening the budgets, unrest in the Middle East and North Africa, high oil prices, earthquake and tsunami in Japan!
In recent years, regional visitors especially those from southern China have accounted for around 25% of all visitors in trade days of the Travel Expo, while some 80% of the public visitors prefer traveling in FIT. These percentages are expected to remain more or less the same as before, which will be adjusted accordingly when detail breakdown of visitors this year becomes available.
In view of the strong interest on ITE & MICE by media in Guangdong and thousands of public day tickets have been distributed there by some leading travel agents, a significant increase in the number of visitors from mainland China for the public days this year was expected.
For synergy, ITE MICE continues being co-located with the more leisure focused ITE. In fact, majority of the exhibiting NTO continue to feature various themes in one comprehensive official pavilion or stand. In all, ITE & MICE 2011 featured around 40 official and theme pavilions, and around 100 exhibitors targeted the MICE market.
ITE MICE 2011 again gained support from the event industry associations in Hong Kong and Macau. With a series of related seminars, the second trade day was designated MICE / Corporate Travel Day. There was also a separate visitor promotion campaign for ITE MICE targeting the corporate visitors.
Other themes highlighted in ITE & MICE this year included Wellness & Medical Tourism (WMT), and Cruise Travel. While NTO such as Thailand included WMT in their comprehensive official pavilion, Taiwan had this year again a separate official pavilion on WMT, in addition to its official pavilion on leisure travel. There was also a trade seminar on WMT.
Besides cruise lines, related portals and travel agents, the Cruise Pavilion this year attracted more exhibitors from abroad who focused on Polar Cruises. The Asian Cruise Association again held its training seminar in trade day this year.
ITE & MICE this year hosted three prize presentation ceremonies, which include (a) Cantonese Favorite Destinations (Routes) Award by Southern Metropolis Daily, a leading newspaper in Guangdong; (b) My Favorite Hong Kong Tour Guide Award by Hong Kong Professional Tourist Guides General Union; and (c) New Travel Routes Award by U Magazine, a leading travel magazine for the public in Hong Kong.
Around 100 travel seminars were held during the two public days, often with renowned travel writers and travel program hosts as speakers. Tourism authorities from abroad brought this year over 20 nationally and internationally renowned performance troupes to ITE & MICE, which are particularly popular with the public visitors. There was a Travel Agents Zone to facilitate onsite booking, and also public auctioning of travel products.
ITE & MICE thus successfully covers, under one roof, the regional travel trade, media, and MICE markets, and the affluent FIT market of Hong Kong.
ITE & MICE is organized by TKS Exhibition Services Ltd, and supported by China National Tourism Administration, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, and the Macau Government Tourists Office. Cathay and Dragonair are Official Airlines, and MTR is Official Rail of ITE & MICE. It was held this year from June 9 to 12 at halls 1A to 1E of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center, with the first two days open only to trade and corporate visitors, and the last two to the public.
