ITB spreads its wings to India

BERLIN  ITB Berlin will launch a new outbound travel show in India branded, Bharat International Tourism Bazaar.

The co-branded show that claims to be the “first pure outbound show for the Indian market” will be held in New Delhi, 3 to 6 October.

In its launch announcement, Monday, Messe Berlin said the co-branded show would be organised by Cross Section Media, a company that has organised B2B travel marts for over two decades.

No details of the business arrangement in the partnership with Cross Section Media were divulged.

But it is very likely that the Indian partner is underwriting production costs, while Messe Berlin lends its branding and provides technical support services for the conference content as well as driving international exhibitor bookings.

Despite claiming to be the first 100% pure outbound travel mart, the Indian B2B trade show market is crowded with events all vying for overseas booth sales and all having some outbound content of varying degrees.

Messe Berlin organises ITB Berlin, sister show ITB Asia and will launch next year ITB China in a joint venture with the Chinese media group Travel Daily.

India’s travel and tourism industry is making impressive gains, but in the Asia-Pacific region China leads the supply markets.

Messe Berlin in its press release stated outbound travel from India exceeded 18 million movements last year, while India’s domestic air travel market represented around 100 million in passenger traffic.

BITB will have space for exhibitors from online and travel technology, weddings, MICE, luxury travel, and other niche segments that are presently driving India’s outbound travel demand.

Traditional segments will also bring exhibitors such as cities and states, destinations, airlines and airports and hospitality companies keen to tap the Indian outbound market. ITB Berlin’s traditional partners will host accompanying conferences.

Messe Berlin says this show will be 100% pure outbound, which would be a break from the business model of ITB Berlin and ITB Asia that make no such distinctions.

But it hammers the message that the show will be different and should bring over 12,000 attendees, comprising industry and government, from within India and around the world.

How much different from its present stable of show remains to be seen?  They make no distinction between outbound, inbound or domestic in the profile of buyers and exhibitors. In the end the India show could fall back on an “all are welcome” business model simply to balance the books and be competitive in the long-run.

There will also be concerns that the arrival of ITB in China and now India will shrink the footprint and sales performance for exhibitors attending ITB Asia.