Hand-picked circle of international buyers with high spending power – ITB Speed Networking and evening events provide an opportunity to meet – Mecklenburg Vorpommern, the official partner of the ITB Buyers Circle and at the forefront of activities, to offer tours after the convention, starting on Friday.
The meeting place for senior buyers from the travel industry: this year marks the seventh occasion that the ITB Buyers Circle will be welcoming 1,000 senior buyers from around the world who have been hand-picked based on a qualitative application procedure. Buyers from SMEs, start-ups and global players will all be taking part. Members of the ITB Buyers Circle will benefit from numerous additional services that make it easier for them to do business at the World’s Largest Travel Trade Show. This includes early access to the exhibition grounds as of 8.30 a.m., use of fast lanes at the entrances and an exclusive shuttle service on the grounds. Separate rooms for appointments and workplaces with free Wi-Fi are also available at the Marshall Haus.
”With the ITB Buyers Circle we have established an institution at ITB Berlin“, said David Ruetz, head of ITB Berlin. ”This year numerous senior buyers have applied. Many of them are regular visitors whom we are welcoming again. This is proof that our exclusive circle is very popular with buyers.“
74 per cent of the buyers have budgets exceeding one million euros, and close to 70 per cent consider economic developments in their market to be positive. More than half of the participants work for companies with over 100 employees. One in three are visiting ITB Berlin for the tenth time. Buyers belonging to the ITB Buyers Circle work in the leisure, luxury, business and MICE travel sectors.
After the convention Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, this year’s partner of the ITB Buyers Circle and the official partner region of ITB Berlin, will be offering buyers free tours of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern for the first time. The three tours will take visitors to Hanseatic cities on the Baltic, the islands of Rügen and Usedom and to the federal state’s palaces, lakes and national parks. During ITB Berlin the official partner region will be at the forefront of activities. The federal state will be represented with two stands at the Marshall Haus. On the Wednesday of ITB it will be organising a networking breakfast and also taking visitors on a guided tour of its display hall.
“The ITB Buyers Circle offers buyers a whole range of privileges that make working at the World’s Largest Travel Trade Show a lot easier“, said Matthias Machinek, a hotel buyer for DER Touristik Frankfurt GmbH. ”Being a member puts us in an ideal position to achieve good results at ITB Berlin. The activities of this year’s partner country are impressive too. Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s offer of tours after the convention and a networking event is very attractive.“
At the ITB Speed Networking event on the Thursday of ITB members of the ITB Buyers Circle will be able to establish important contacts with national and international exhibitors. In order to do so exhibitors and buyers will have previously made appointments with the ITB Matchmaking Tool. Other opportunities for networking will include the ITB Chinese Night, the ITB Luxury Late Night, the ITB Mice Night and the ITB Medical Night, for which buyers will receive priority invitations.
