ASTA to hold expo on Koreas Cheju
MONTREAL -- ASTA, which in 2006 will stage an overseas International Expo and domestic trade show rather than a world congress, said the 2007 overseas event will be held on the Korean island of Cheju, March 25 to 29.
ASTA had previously announced plans to hold the 2006 Expo in Prague, Czech Republic, March 21 to 26. The event is open to nonmembers as well as members for a $50 cost differential.
The Society said the expo will include seminars on numerous destinations in and near the host country, allowing development of expertise in a wide area, with optional pre- and post-meeting tours. -- N.G.
MONTREAL -- Messe
Berlin, operator of ITB, Germanys annual travel show, signed a
letter of intent with ASTA to manage TheTradeShow.
TheTradeShow is a
successor to the trade show portion of ASTAs annual World Travel
Congress, the final version of which closed here last
week.
TheTradeShow will
debut in Orlando next September.
The notion of a
travel mart along the lines of ITB or Londons World Travel Market
has been tried -- and has failed -- twice in North
America.
When asked why this
project would not face the same fate, Bill Maloney, ASTA executive
vice president and COO, said ASTA will achieve critical mass by
staging the event in conjunction with several industry meetings,
including ASTAs annual meeting, the annual meeting of the National
Association of Commissioned Travel Agents and the Travel Institutes
National Forum. This yields a convergence of events, producing the
urgency to be there, he said.
Maloney also cited
the value of ITBs long experience with large and successful travel
shows. Christian Goke, COO of ITB Berlin, said his organization
will lend the strength of the ITB brand to establish the show
internationally.
Although ITBs
holdings in the show have not been determined, ASTA will always
retain majority ownership, said Bjorn Bieneck, managing director,
Messe Berlin North America. He said a final contract will be in
place in about two months.
Bieneck said that
Messe Berlin, independent of ASTAs deliberations, had been
researching the possibility of bringing an ITB to North
America.
But when we saw
what ASTA was doing and that it was bringing trade groups together,
we figured we could either compete with that or join, Bieneck
said.
Other strategic
partners are the Association of Canadian Travel Agencies, the
Cruise Lines International Association, the International Gay and
Lesbian Travel Association, the National Tour Association, the
Travel Industry Association, the U.S. Tour Operators Association
and USA Today.
Not every group
will be staging a major event to coincide with TheTradeShow, at
least not right away.
USTOA Chairman
Brian Stack, said, Were already committed to Scottsdale (Ariz.) in
2006. And though we dont have a contractual obligation for 2007, we
feel a sort of obligation to Sol Melia in Cancun -- we were going
to meet there this year and had to cancel because of Wilma.
However, I wouldnt rule out having a board meeting scheduled to
coincide with TheTradeShow.
Donna Flora, vice
president for travel industry relations at American Express, is an
enthusiastic supporter. Financially, it makes a lot of sense, she
said. From a supplier point of view, there were too many small
trade shows. I also like that theyre bringing in expertise and that
the way theyve approached it unifies the industry.
Maloney predicted
that 2,000 to 4,000 agents will attend the first event.
To contact the
reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to Nadine Godwin at [email protected].