Home NEWS IBTM World Barcelona 2021 Welcomed Over 7,000 Attendees

IBTM World Barcelona 2021 Welcomed Over 7,000 Attendees

Dec 7, 2021

Over 30,000 pre-scheduled meetings during three-day event

IBTM World Barcelona, the first face-to-face event in the IBTM portfolio in two years, has been hailed a huge success by organisers, closing today (2 December 2021) with over 30,000 pre-scheduled one-to-one business meetings have taken place, and more than 7,000 attendees joining for quality one-to-one business meetings, networking and education in Barcelona.

The meetings satisfaction score reached 4.7 out of 5 during the three-day event with many attendees commenting on the quality of their meetings and their optimism for the future.

Over 1,200 exhibiting companies from 70 countries around the world attended the three-day event, including the CVBs of Germany, Dubai Tourism, Istanbul, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungarian, Croatia, and Norway, Atout France, Meet in Ireland, Lithuania, Turespana Convention Bureau (Spain), Hilton, Titanic Hotels, Hyatt, and GL Events. In addition, several new exhibitors attended, such as the Montalbano Group, Manchester City Football Club, Sardinia Convention Bureau, Basquetour, and The Celtic Collection.

Commenting on their experience at IBTM World Barcelona, Marina Pegoraro, Executive Account, Regione Autonoma Della Sardegna, said: “IBTM World has always been important for the region of Sardegna. Our partners have been able to reconnect with buyers and trade contacts and tell the world about the region. It was invaluable for our stand sharers to attend the show to help gain exposure for their brands as we recover together from the pandemic. We would not have missed the opportunity to be part of the first major meeting and business trade show since the start of the crisis.”

Nick Tinker, Sales Manager at Event Solutions, Cvent, said: “We’ve had a positive experience overall, for one, the fact that everyone’s here proves how much we’ve been longing to come back together for in-person events. Also, the quality of meetings this year has been fantastic; the footfall has been lower than previous editions, which is expected, but that’s allowed us to have higher quality meetings, have more time to build relationships and make new connections. This has also meant that buyers did make an effort to speak with as many exhibitors and make the most of their attendance.”

Ben Myatt Trenholm, Director Speakers and Conferences at Thinking Heads said: “Three years ago I didn’t have time to speak to all the people I wanted to speak to in the timeframe I was given, so this year it has been much more meaningful to have full 20-minute conversations explaining to my prospective clients exactly what we do, and they also had the opportunity to explain what exactly they need. I had 36 meetings in three days and some of these meetings were not even in my diary. The organisation and the content of IBTM World are always fantastic and I want to congratulate the entire team.”

Over 1,400 high quality Hosted Buyers were present from 72 countries, and almost half were completely new to the IBTM portfolio, representing more opportunities for exhibitors to do business with new contacts.

Delegates attended from globally renowned agencies, corporations and associations including HelmsBriscoe, HPN Global, First Incentive Travel, HPN Global – World, Follow red Branding Experiences, Oriflame Cosmetics, Saudi Aramco, Citigroup Inc, BBVA France, Knauf, Pfizer, Michelin, General Motors; International Association for the Protection of Intellectual Property (AIPPI), China Electronics Chamber of Commerce, European Society of Cardiology.

“Stepping away from our screens and enjoying some face-to-face interaction, inspirational education sessions has been wonderful.”

Commenting on the close of the event, David Thompson, IBTM World Event Director, said: “For me personally, this has been an incredibly rewarding three days and it has been amazing to see people reconnect after so long apart. For many, this may have been the first event they’ve attended in two years, and it’s fantastic that we were able to play our part in bringing the industry together again.”

“The whole team has worked exceptionally hard to make this event a success in quite challenging circumstances and I’m so proud of what we have achieved as a team. Stepping away from our screens and enjoying some face-to-face interaction, inspirational education sessions and one-to-one business meetings has been wonderful.”

IBTM World Online will take place from 14-15 December 2021 as an enhancement to the in-person event in Barcelona.

Find out more at https//www.ibtmworld.com.