City of Athens and ACB's participation in IMEX 2010 a great success

The Athens Convention Bureau's (ACB) participation in the IMEX 2010 international conference tourism trade show was an absolute success and drew particularly encouraging and positive messages about Athens' position in the international conference market. The conference took place 25-27 May in Frankfurt.

ACB's strong presence at IMEX, one of the most important trade shows in the conference market in the world, is among Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis' main strategic axes to establish Athens as a top international conference destination.

Specifically, ACB representatives, headed by Dr Katerina Katsabe, Athens City Council Member and ATEDCo president, conducted more than 70 scheduled and unscheduled meetings with hosted buyers and trade visitors, representatives of international associations, conference organisers, and company meeting and incentive companies from more than 35 countries in Europe, the USA, Asia and Australia. The number of meetings that ACB held at this year's IMEX was up 30% over IMEX 2009.

The majority of visitors to the Athens stand are either planning to stage an event in Athens in the coming years or they plan to include the city among destinations to be considered by their organisations in the near future.

Interest in incentive travel was stronger than ever this year. The incentive market is believed to hold significant development potential for Athens.

The main conclusion from meetings held and contacts made by ACB staff at IMEX 2010 was that the interest in Athens as a destination for conference organising and company meeting and incentive travel remains at satisfactory levels, despite the negative publicity generated recently which could worsen Athens' position in the international tourism and conference market.

At the same time, ACB staff took part in a series of important events staged by international bodies as part of the show.

These included:

• the formal presentation of the first phase of the international study known as "Convention 2020," of which ACB is one of the main supporters as it seeks to evaluate conditions and characteristics of the conference and meeting market over the next decade.

• ACB's presentation at an Educational Session of the Destination Marketing Association International (DMAI), on the topic "Formation and operation of CVBs - Successful practices." The case of ACB was among the three examples of newly formed successful bodies reviewed during the event.

This year's IMEX drew a total of about 3,800 hosted buyers and 9,000 visitors.

For more information:
Kalliopi Andriopoulou
Τ. 210 3253123
F. 210 3216653
kandriopoulou@atedco.gr