Incentives Market Getting Crowded

If the recently announced launches of two meetings, incentives and corporate travel hosted-buyer tradeshows in 2011 targeting the U.S. market are a sign of anything, it might be that the travel industry is in recovery mode. And, although organizers of the launches and a major existing show insist that's the case, it remains to be seen whether three major events serving the U.S. incentives travel market can be sustained.

Last year, Reed Travel Exhibitions announced it would launch the Americas Incentive Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition June 29-July 1 at the Baltimore Convention Center. However, citing the global economic downturn, in February the company postponed the scheduled opening of the event until June 21-23, 2011, still in Baltimore. Reed already holds five similar shows elsewhere in the world.

It will face competition from the launch of IMEX America, also a clone of an overseas show, IMEX in Frankfurt, Germany. IMEX America will debut Oct. 11-13, 2011, at the Sands Expo & Convention Center in Las Vegas.

Both new events enter the market occupied by 65-year-old The Motivation Show, organized by Hall-Erickson, held annually in Chicago and scheduled Oct. 4-6, 2011.

The 2008 edition of the show ranked No. 108 on the 2009 Tradeshow Week 200, with 227,866 net square feet, 994 exhibiting companies and 16,821 professional attendees.

“We have been well aware of the challenges facing the business travel and meetings industry in the U.S. over the past year,” said Vanessa Cotton, chair of Reed Travel Exhibitions Meetings and Incentive Events. “Having considered the economic situation in the U.S., it confirms that the time is right for us to launch AIBTM in 2011.”

Ray Bloom, chairman of the U.K.-based IMEX Group, said he believed there's a significant demand in North America for what IMEX provides. That is evidenced, he added, by the industry encouragement he has received for the new show.

The Society of Incentive & Travel Executives will hold its annual conference Oct. 13-15 in Las Vegas, immediately following IMEX.

In addition, the American Society of Assn. Executives will hold an ASAE Education Day for members before IMEX America's opening. Meeting Professionals Intl. will be a strategic partner and the Intl. Congress & Convention Assn., Destination Marketing Assn. Intl., Intl. Assn. of Congress Centres and European Cities Marketing will lend support with marketing or education initiatives.

Organizers of all three incentive shows claim that they're not competing with one another.

Peter Erickson, managing director of The Motivation Show, said he didn't anticipate much impact on his audience of corporate end-users and resellers of incentive travel and motivational meetings in Chicago.

“The Midwest is home to 75 percent of the top full-service meeting and incentive companies in North America, all of whom attend our show,” he added. “Less than 20 percent of our current audience comes from the Pacific-Mountain regions in the west or the Mid-South Atlantic regions in the east. These two events won't significantly impact attendance at The Motivation Show in Chicago.”

On the contrary, Erickson said, news of the launches is good for the marketplace – which includes a handful of smaller association-related events – since it provides corporate America with more opportunities to meet face-to-face with suppliers.

“The market potential is so great here in the U.S. that any event that advances the message that motivational experiences are a powerful business tool to achieve corporate objectives will help all of us,” he added.

Bloom agreed, saying, “The U.S. is a huge market, the world's biggest even without recovery, but recovery is underway. People organize meetings for a reason, and that won't change.”

Cotton said Baltimore, AIBTM's site, offers proximity and ease of access to the vast Eastern Seaboard meeting and events community. She added an estimated 13,000 meeting planners are within a three-hour drive.

“That means it is hitting such key cities as New York, Washington (D.C.) and Philadelphia,” Cotton said. “Planners can easily come to AIBTM in a day in the knowledge that they can achieve their business objectives.”

Convenient, low-cost travel means planners whose organizations will not allow them to accept hospitality because of Sarbanes Oxley regulations will be able to attend, she added.

“With time out of the office so precious and return on investment playing such an important role in deciding what events to attend, Baltimore as host city provides us with the location that best suits the requirements of the meetings industry,” Cotton said.

Bloom said IMEX was launching with what is by far the largest number of hosted buyers, who attend the show and travel for free, ever to commit to an incentives-based show in the United States.

“We already have 1,500 hosted buyers committed, and we feel that the show has even greater potential,” he added.

Meanwhile, The Motivation Show is not standing pat. In September, show officials announced they will change the exhibit and conference schedule to reduce exhibiting costs, while maintaining a full three-day program of education, exhibits and networking.

The preliminary schedule includes the dedicated ASAE Education Day, followed by two full days of exhibits, instead of the previous three days. Nevertheless, the showfloor will be open a total of 16 hours.

AIBTM, a joint venture between Reed Travel Exhibitions Meetings and Incentives Events and Reed Exhibitions Americas, will join Reed's travel portfolio comprising EIBTM in Barcelona, Spain; GIBTM in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates; CIBTM in Beijing; AIME in Melbourne, Australia; and the ICCA Congress Exhibition, held in a different destination each year.