EIBTM 2008: A Boom for the Global Meetings Industry

The official independent ABC audit confirms that EIBTM achieved a total attendance of 8,100 visitors and Hosted Buyers, a record number, establishing the event as the largest gathering of the global meetings industry that is independently audited.

Top line statistics from the record event highlight a 25 percent increase (over 2007) in pre-scheduled appointments which topped 50,000, 2,600 delegates participating in the education program –up 30 percent from 2007- 3,725 Hosted Buyers up over 12 percent on the previous year, and 8,100 total attendance marking a 6 percent increase on 2007.

Final show statistics show that the largest ever gathering of Hosted Buyers came from as far as Australia, China, India, Thailand and the Americas. There was also an increase in visitors from all of the major markets over previous years including more visitors from Germany, France, Switzerland, France, UK, Italy and Spain where 2,810 visitors attended –an increase of 36.3 percent on 2007. Europe represented 89.2 percent of the total visitor attendance with the remaining 10.8 percent from the rest of the world.