Alexandre Rocha
São Paulo – Company Reed Exhibitions promotes 430 business fairs in 32 countries every year, including in Brazil and in Arab countries like the United Arab Emirates and Egypt. The company is part of Anglo-Dutch media conglomerate Reed Elsevier.
"We organize events in various sectors, mainly in the aerospace, civil construction, electronic product, telecommunications, hotel management, sports, leisure, and tourism industries," stated Andréa Brandini, marketing manager of the Brazilian subsidiary of the company that has offices in 46 countries.
Tourism is the focus of three fairs that Reed is going to promote in Brazil, in the United Arab Emirates, and in Egypt within the next months. The company organizes events on its own accord, but also in partnerships with class associations and governments.
Lacime
In Brazil, between June 23 and 25, the company is going to organize the first edition of Lacime (the Latin America & Caribbean Incentive & Meetings Exhibition) at Transamérica Expo Center in São Paulo, the most industrial city in Brazil, together with the Brazilian Travel Agency Association (Abav). This fair is turned to incentive tourism, events, and business.
The event, according to Andréa, is nothing more than a copy of two fairs that the company has been organizing for over 10 years: Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meeting Expo (Aime), in Australia, and European EIBTM.
"Nowadays Latin America and the Caribbean are very viable economic destinations. In Europe and the United States, prices are very high," stated Andréa. Apart from that, she added that the Latin American continent has been structuring itself to receive this kind of "more demanding" tourism, not destined to leisure.
This "type of tourism" is business tourism, including international meetings, congresses, and company conferences. "Incentive tourism," in turn, includes the trips that companies give their employees as awards for a good performance.
"There are currently resorts structured for this kind of event, such as Costa do Sauípe in the northeastern state of Bahia. The city of São Paulo is considered the capital of business tourism in Latin America, with a large number of new hotels and convention centres," stated Andréa.
She added that the official Brazilian Tourism Agency (Embratur) has defined this kind of tourism as a priority for Brazil.
For the first edition of Lacime the number of exhibitors expected is 500, direct and indirect. The "direct" exhibitors are those who have their own stands at the fair, estimated at around 200, the "indirect" are those who use third party structures, such as country stands, for example.
Among the exhibitors are official tourism organizations, similar to the Embratur for example, hotel chains, operators, tourism agencies, airlines, among others. Most of those present should be from Brazil, Latin America, and the Caribbean.
Arabs
There will, however, be a space for exhibitors from other locations, including the Arab countries. Andréa stated that businessmen and governors from Dubai and Bahrain have already shown interest in participating in the fair.
"Although it is a fair that focuses on Latin America and the Caribbean, there will be space for other destinations interested in participating," she declared.
It is expected that around 3,000 visitors, being 300 invited buyers, buyers whose visits are being sponsored by the organization. According to Andréa, the list of those invited has not yet been closed. She added that the Middle East should be included in the list.
The fair organization expects most visitors to be directors and managers responsible for the event area, such as people in marketing, trade, human resources, and training.
Dubai and Cairo
Tourism is certainly one of the main areas Reed is operating in, so much so that it promotes 13 events turned to the sector every year. Before Lacime, between May 4 and 7, fair Arabian Travel Market (ATM) will take place in Dubai. The fair is turned to the tourism market in general and has already been taking place for 10 years.
Last year, according to company information, ATM received 783 exhibitors from 55 countries, occupying a space of 9,000 square metres. A total of 12,111 visitors from 73 nations went to the fair. It included airlines, cruise operators, resort chains, hotels, and spas, among others.
In the second half of the year, Reed is going to promote Mediterranean Travel Fair, between September 14 and 16, in Cairo, Egypt. In 2003, in the fourth edition, the event attracted 190 exhibitors from 36 countries, in an area of 1,729 square metres, including 2,106 visitors from 49 different origins.
The main focuses of this fair are markets in Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Turkey, and Cyprus.
Profile
Reed Exhibitions has been operating in Brazil since 1997. The company already promotes fair Latin America Aero & Defence (LAAD) in Rio de Janeiro every two years, a fair turned to the aerospace and defence industry. The next edition will be next year. In the last edition, in 2003, it received 250 exhibitors and 10,200 visitors in an area of 7,500 square metres in exhibition centre Riocentro, according to information by the organization.
Reed Elsevier, which controls Reed Exhibitions, is a large producer of scientific, education, legal, and business publications. The company also publishes periodicals such as US magazine Variety, specialized in show business. According to information on the company site, it employs 35,000 people around the world and had revenues of US$ 9.6 billion last year.
The event division, according to Andréa, has 2,200 employees and revenues of US$ 2 billion per year. In Brazil, the structure is still small. The company currently has 15 employees.
Contact
Reed Exhibitions Brazil
(+5511) 5502-7272
www.reedexpo.com.br
Lacime
www.lacimexpo.com
Arabian Travel Market
www.arabiantravelmarket.co.uk
Mediterranean Travel Fair
www.mtfcairo.com
Reed Exhibitions
www.reedexpo.com
