A record amount of hosted buyers, exhibitors and trade visitors were on hand at Reed Exhibitions’ CIBTM (China, Incentive Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition) Aug. 30-Sept 1 at the China National Convention Centre in Beijing, according to show officials.

The three-day event focused on the meetings business in China and attracted more than 4,400 hosted buyers and trade visitors who took part in more than 7,500 prescheduled meetings.

“The response from the local, regional and international meetings industry to CIBTM this year has driven this event to yet another important stage in its strategic development,” said CIBTM 2011 Project Manager Jeffrey Xu .

He added, “There is no doubt that China’s meetings industry, led by CIBTM, will help to support the predictions by HelmsBriscoe (April 2011) that its value of $150billion will also have annual growth of 20 percent.”

The show also received a strong endorsement from the local government with a three-,year memorandum of understanding signed between Reed and the Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development to have the latter not only continue their support of the growing meetings industry in China, but also also provide additional resources to encourage inbound business to support RFP’s from international MICE buyers and planners.

“To help continue to build Beijing as a high level MICE destination we will be supporting our key meeting and incentive travel enterprises, associations and intermediary organizations to help integrate all our resources to promote the city and, at the same time, we will step up our support for CIBTM with the aim of making it the premier event across China and Asia Pacific within the next five years,” said Lu Yong, general director of Beijing Municipal Commission of Tourism Development.

On the showfloor, the majority of suppliers came from China and Asia, with 391 total booths being represented, but some companies came from even farther away.

“This is our third time at CITBM. In the first year, they wanted to know where Italy and Sicily were located in the world, but now they are really experienced – it’s incredible how the knowledge of the Chinese buyers has grown,” said Tobia Salvadori of the Sicilia Convention Bureau.

He added, “… We feel we have to be here at this event, as it’s clearly the strongest outbound market in the world.”

CIBTM’s Education Program included a mix of international and Chinese sessions, with one of the most popular sessions focusing on “How to Improve the Core Competence as a Service Provider”.

“Every year, we have added to the speakers and sessions as it is clear that the China market wants education, knowledge and facts about the industry. We have had a real variety of topics and features including CMP exams – the first ever in mainland China – the annual China Meetings Industry Report, and a seminar on how to understand the local MICE market from a Chinese perspective,” said Erica Keogan, Associations and Education Manager for the IBTM Global Meetings and Events Portfolio.