The Asia Pacific Incentives and Meetings Event (AIME), which was hailed by industry as a success in February, has today officially launched the 2020 Hosted Buyer Program.
With over 100 buyers having already lodged expressions of interest, the bespoke Hosted Buyer Program is now open ahead of schedule to ensure the most relevant buyers are meeting with the increased variety of exhibitors at AIME 2020.
AIME will up the ante again with a commitment to deliver up to 50% more buyers to the February 2020 event, ensuring a superior return on investment for exhibitors.
Following the success of 2019, AIME 2020 has seen significant growth in exhibitor sales with figures almost surpassing 2019. AIME has an expectation to grow the show by at least 30%. More international destinations are committing to the show and expressing interest in seeing buyers from the Asia Pacific region.
“Active buyers are always looking for new destinations, venues, and suppliers, and balancing the right buyers and the right exhibitors takes time and careful curation. So, it makes absolute sense to launch our Hosted Buyer program earlier this year. We are looking for a substantial increase in Hosted Buyers to meet exhibitor demand,” said Talk2 Media & Events CEO, Matt Pearce.
Valuable feedback from Hosted Buyers and exhibitors at AIME 2019 has informed the 2020 program, with AIME seeking to recruit more buyers. This new wave of buyers will ensure a strong mix of inbound and outbound Australian buyers, as well as Asia Pacific and international buyers who are looking to organise events in the region.
Building on vetting processes developed in the lead up to the reimagined AIME, the program will see additional requirements introduced for approval as a Hosted Buyer in 2020. These include a tightening of event delegate numbers and budgets and will retain the individual reference checking of every single buyer.
At this year’s event, over half of all Hosted Buyers were new to AIME with a substantial increase in international buyers. Attending Exhibitors expressed they received substantial interest from businesses that had not previously enquired about their destinations and venues.
The experience from the 2019 Hosted Buyers was positive, particularly as this represented a valuable opportunity to connect with new suppliers.
“It was wonderful to have this opportunity to connect with the suppliers. We learned so much about the properties, especially for a couple of programs we are sourcing in Bali and Hawaii. We are excited to have learned about Australia, New Zealand, and New Caledonia suppliers and hope to be sending RFPs to them in the coming months.” Deanna Fillhouer, Oridon Global. 2019 Hosted Buyer
“I just wanted to say the biggest thank you for including me in AIME, I genuinely had an amazing time. I had so many wonderful meetings, met some incredible people and left feeling super inspired (slightly tired) but very grateful for the opportunity. I have already set up some sites with potential venues and this wouldn’t have been possible without AIME.” Kate Lindsey, seek. 2019 Hosted Buyer
Buyers interested in being hosted in 2020 must submit a thorough online registration form.
Full details are available on the AIME website.