Exhibitors Number Rise for AIME 2005

Exhibitor numbers continue to rise for AIME 2005 with 800 exhibitors from 45 countries expected, including more than 135 new exhibitors.

AIME 2005, 13th AsiaPacific Incentives & Meetings Expo will be held at the Melbourne Exhibition Centre on 22 and 23 February.

New exhibitors are from the United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, South Africa, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Chile, The Cook Islands, Mauritius, Mexico, Hong Kong, Hawaii, Thailand, Sabah, Sarawak, Tahiti, Singapore, China, Vanuatu and Fiji.

There are also more than 50 new exhibitors from Australia and more exhibitors of incentive and corporate gift products than ever before.

AIME Exhibition Manager, Rosemarie Sama, said that the growth and development of AIME internationally this year has been driven by the excellent results achieved by exhibitors at AIME 2004, and continued growth in Asia Pacific.

“AIME 2004 saw the exhibition reach a new level. We broke all records and our research shows that all of our stakeholders – exhibitors, Hosted Buyers and visitors – rated the show as one of the best, if not the best they had attended,” Ms Sama said.

“In the Asia Pacific region, tourist and business tourism figures are returning to, if not exceeding, the levels they were prior to 9/11 and SARS. There is also a great deal of new infrastructure within the region. New venues, looking to fill their exhibition and convention spaces and tourism agencies and bureaus, keen to attract more business travellers, see AIME as fundamental to their marketing plans in 2005,” she said.

AIME’s floorplan has been extended to cope with the growth. Increased space has been allocated for international, Asian, Australian and New Zealand exhibitors.

“We are also once again increasing the number of Hosted Buyers and expect 425 buyers to attend AIME 2005,” Ms Sama said.

Visitor numbers to AIME 2004 increased by more than 16% to 2,540. A new advertising campaign and a continuation of last year’s successful e-marketing campaign, is expected to push total visitor numbers up to 2,800 in 2005.

AIME is one of the few industry events that is audited each year by the Circulations Audit Board. AIME verifies its registration figures, does not include re-visits (people who visit the show more than once), which artificially inflate some event numbers, and does not include students or exhibitors who register as visitors, in its figures.

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