IMEX America hosted 2,400 hosted buyers in its second edition, a 20 per cent increase on the inaugural edition in 2011.
IMEX Chairman Ray Bloom announced the results as the show closed at the Sands Expo Centre in Las Vegas, 11 October.
Bloom told the press conference that 80 per cent of the hosted buyers had originated in North America, with a further 1,700 non-hosted buyers joining them. Compliance issues, Bloom noted, meant that there was an issue that some buyers could not or would not be hosted.
Exhibitor figures were also up at 2,413, he added.
Halls C and D at Sands Expo were filled and Bloom announced that the show would move to bigger halls at Sands Expo from 2013 to help it grow. He gave Mexico’s record 80 exhibitors, with 10 latecomers turned away, as an example of pent up demand.
The number of hosted buyer appointments had rocketed, Bloom noted from 25,000 in 2011 to “nearly 40,000”.
Cathy Tull, Vice-President Marketing of the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Association, told the press conference that the show floor had been extremely busy for a Thursday afternoon in Las Vegas.
Tull praised the strength of “two great brands” for the continuing success of IMEX America, the bureau and IMEX, claiming it had contributed well to the city’s US$6bn impact on the economy.
“The event shows we are a serious place to do business,” Tull said.
As the Reed Travel Exhibitions Americas’ trade show moves to Chicago (2013) and then Orlando (2014), Bloom was clear stress his intentions of IMEX staying in Vegas. “We are already in talks about 2020,” he revealed.
Robert Rippee, Senior Vice_president Marketing at venue operator Venetian / The Palazzo added that his team had held over 1,000 appointments at the three-day show: “Something our teams have never accomplished before,” he said.
Cindy D’Aoust, COO and Interim CEO of Meeting Professionals International, which powered the IMEX America education programme, also claimed her association’s move to scrap its own annual exhibition and join with IMEX America in a strategic partnership had been vindicated.
“It is clear to us that IMEX is the best in class and we decided to discontinue with our own trade show and partner with the best,” she said.
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