| Imagebank |
IF repeat business is any measure of success, it’s not
surprising organisers of the Travel Technology Show have high hopes
for this year.
Some 90% of companies that exhibited last year are planning to
return. That is high by anyone’s standards, but especially
good for a show only in its second year.
The 2005 show will also be significantly bigger. Organisers are
expecting around 100 stands representing 120 companies, up from 60
stands and 76 companies last year. Many are systems suppliers, but
there are also online marketing and customer relationship
management specialists.
Among the first-timers are global distribution systems Worldspan
and Amadeus, Billian IT, Powersoft, ProCon and Travel Technology
Systems.
Once again, the show will be held alongside the Business Travel
Show at London’s Olympia next month.
The two events are separate in terms of marketing, but last year
there was a 25% crossover of visitors, which helped push numbers to
the technology exhibition area up to 2,200 from an expected
1,500.
Travel Technology Show event director David Chapple said he
expects numbers of around 2,200 again.
“The show was packed each day from the moment we opened
until 5.30pm. That is why so many exhibitors are coming
back,” he added.
Anite Travel Systems marketing manager Deborah Jepson said so many
people watched demonstrations of its new @comRes system last year
that the stand nearly collapsed.
“The show was fantastic. We have now signed up three
customers for the new system,” she added.
Equinus director Mike Cogan was also impressed. “It was
better for technology than any other show I know,” he said.
“Four of us were working flat out on both days. I’ve
not found anyone who thought it was a waste of time.”
Chapple said the quality of visitors was also key for
exhibitors. Crucially, 91% of those who turned up last year said
they influenced the decision-making process when choosing new
technology.
A seminar programme is running both days as it did last year, but
the number of sessions has been cut from 16 to 10 and each will
last 75 minutes instead of an hour.
Chapple said organisers have deliberately picked agent and
operator speakers – who can talk about their experiences
– rather than suppliers, who can book a slot in the product
presentation theatre to promote their products. The two exceptions
are the sessions on global distribution systems and online travel
marketing.
“Last year we had complaints about speakers giving a sales
pitch so we have cut them out,” said Chapple.
If anyone tries to promote their company in a paid-for session,
the moderator has orders to step in.