The Future of BTTF – A Quick Summary of Best of Britain The Trade Dimension
BTTF will continue as a high-profile trade-exclusive exhibition but will be re-branded as the „Best of Britain Travel Trade Forum and be incorporated into a new large-scale consumer event, entitled Best of Britain. The combined trade and consumer Best of Britain event will take place from 26-29 March 2009 at ExCeL in London‟s Docklands. It will remain Britain‟s only exhibition exclusively for domestic tourism. As with BTTF currently, the Best of Britain Travel Trade Forum will remain exclusively for the trade and the media. It will take place on Thursday March 26 and on Friday March 27 until 2pm, and will retain all its existing trade networking opportunities. In addition, there will be an expanded programme of workshops and meetings focussed on the needs of BTTF‟s traditional trade audiences of tour operators, group travel organisers and coach operators. To further enhance the trade networking capability, the Best of Britain Travel Trade Forum will operate an on-line meetings system to allow delegates and exhibitors to communicate in advance and pre-schedule meetings if they so wish. Best of Britain Travel Trade Forum will specifically target a very substantial increase in the historically under-represented retail travel agency sector. Best of Britain Travel Trade Forum will exploit the new London location to deliver significantly higher numbers of domestic trade attendees, overseas trade buyers and national media.
The Consumer Dimension
From 2pm on Friday March 27 until 5pm on Sunday March 29, Best of Britain will be open to the public and we anticipate a first-year audience of 25,000, predominantly ABC1 consumers. These two-and-a-half days will present an exciting, interactive public celebration of domestic tourism. It will involve a broader exhibitor base and generate stronger media interest, helping to rejuvenate both domestic and international trade attendance.
The inclusion of the consumer dimension will allow Best of Britain to exploit the increasing public interest in the domestic travel market and will allow the event to attract a great deal of hitherto unavailable media coverage from TV and radio broadcasters, national and regional media and lifestyle magazines. This heightened media profile for Best of Britain, as a large–scale interactive celebration of domestic tourism, will serve as a strong generic promotion for the industry as a whole and should, in itself, generate additional audience – both trade and consumer. Trade visitors will be welcome to attend during the public days and will continue to enjoy free admission. Previous experience in similar market situations suggests that many trade visitors will actually prefer to attend on public days, and many will find the weekend and especially Sunday, a more convenient time to attend.
Why are you moving from Birmingham to London?
The geographic distributions of trade buyers from all the key component sectors of the travel trade audience – coach operators, group travel organisers and agents – are all skewed towards London and the South-east, and we therefore expect the move to ExCeL will attract significantly more trade buyers, many of whom may not have attended BTTF for a number of years As well as its reputation as a major international gateway, the capital enjoys transport links as good as BTTF has previously enjoyed at the NEC. Better media exposure - London is the base for the great majority of target media partners for both the trade and consumer dimensions of Best of Britain. In terms of the consumer audience potential, ExCeL London has a two-hour travel catchment area of 12.4m people vs 5.4m in a similar catchment area surrounding the NEC. The move will also help the industry capitalise on trade and consumer marketing activities in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games and provide an opportunity to showcase Games‟ venues to travel and tourism trade buyers from around the world. The venue element of the Best of Britain re-launch deliberations was undoubtedly the most difficult decision to have had to take in the absence of thorough market consultation We believe this is the correct decision for 2009, but there is possibly a case for Best of Britain to be positioned as a biennially-rotating exhibition between London and Birmingham, which would potentially mean a return to the NEC in 2010, before being staged at ExCeL again in 2011. Any such decision would be taken in consultation with stakeholders immediately after Best of Britain‟s inaugural edition in March 2009
Why one-and-a-half days of Best of Britain exclusively dedicated to the trade?
Once we were legally able to undertake consultation on the detailed format of Best of Britain, it became immediately clear that our existing exhibitors much preferred the option whereby the trade-exclusive element of Best of Britain would last one-and-a-half days.
One-and-a-half days allocated to the Best of Britain Travel Trade Forum leaves it very similar in duration to BTTF, especially given that 75% of the total trade audience attends on the first day of BTTF. Feedback from BTTF exhibitors in previous years has indicated that a small majority supported the reduction of BTTF to a single day – the Best of Britain Travel Trade Forum reflects and balances these competing opinions.
Will exhibitors have to pay more than 2008 prices for BTTF?
No, on the contrary. Detailed pricing will be announced in due course, but the square meterage rate for all four days of Best of Britain will be less than BTTF in 2008. In addition we expect to reduce the minimum entry-level price for turn-key display stands including graphics to be under £1000. This will open up Best of Britain to a broader range of smaller destinations, hotels and activity-based attractions, which in turn will increase the appeal of Best of Britain to both its trade and consumer audiences.
My organisation isn’t interested in marketing to consumers. Can I buy stand space for the first two trade days only?
Yes. Companies wishing to be involved purely in the trade dimension of Best of Britain will be able to break down on the Friday night, and so will effectively be exhibiting in an event virtually identical to the old BTTF, but with an enhanced media profile and a larger trade attendance. There will be no discount for companies attending the trade-only element, but the square metre price will still be lower than BTTF in 2008.
But what about the extra costs of staying in London for an additional two days?
Because exhibition venue hotels work on the supply and demand principle, it is unlikely that hotel prices during Best of Britain will be at the levels commanded by the on-site hotels during a global event like World Travel Market at ExCeL (or indeed International Spring Fair at NEC). As part of our service to exhibitors during Motor Show, IMIE has compiled a register of local hotels across with broad range of pricing starting at just £50 per night.
Why was there only very restricted consultation with exhibitors or the wider industry?
As a government agency, VisitBritain is constrained by Government and European Union procurement regulations which require a strict and entirely confidential process of tendering. This has meant that during the tender period over the last three months we have not been able to share the details or canvas the views of all of our stakeholders in the thorough, inclusive way we would ideally have wished. This formal period of enforced silence only ended on Sunday 9 March, just before BTTF opened on the following Tuesday.
What about future consultation – how can we be certain that our views will be taken into account?
IMIE and VisitBritain fully understand both the positive value and the absolute necessity of a strong creative dialogue with all our stakeholders. We trust that exhibitors will appreciate the legal constraints under which we were forced to develop these proposals. We now plan an intensive period of consultation to openly share the detailed thinking behind Best of Britain, seek feedback and together refine and fully develop the concept. Over the next month, we‟ll be talking individually to all our exhibitors, media partners and trade associations. A process that has already begun. We further propose to hold a series of exhibitor open days, in conjunction with the regional and national tourist boards commencing in mid-April. We will be creating a Best of Britain Steering Group comprising stakeholders drawn from the media, the domestic travel trade, regional boards and key exhibitors who will help us create an event of which all sectors of the domestic tourism market can be justifiably proud.
Why are you making changes to the British Travel Trade Fair (BTTF)?
The British Travel Trade Fair has existed in its current format and has been held at the NEC Birmingham since 1992. With the management contract for BTTF due for re-tender, VisitBritain was presented with an ideal opportunity to explore the best options to grow and develop the show for the future and on behalf of the industry. Reed Travel Exhibitions has been event-managing BTTF on behalf of VisitBritain since 1996, but decided, as part of a strategic review and refocus of its business, not to retender for the exhibition‟s management contract beyond 2008. We are grateful for the success generated as a result of their hard work and effort during this period.
Who has been awarded the contract to event-manage BTTF from 2009?
IMIE Limited – a joint venture company between Single Market Events and London EventCo – has been awarded the tender. It will manage the new show as Best of Britain Events Ltd (BB Events). IMIE has been responsible over the past twenty years for the launch, development and management of many of the UK‟s largest and best-known trade and consumer events including British International Motor Show, Destinations, International Spring Fair, RSVP, IPEX-International Print Exhibition, London Fashion Week, BBC Good Food Show, and the Daily Telegraph House and Garden Show, and The Restaurant Show. Winner of 5 prestigious industry awards in 2007 (including Best Exhibition, Best Marketing Campaign and Best Visitor Experience), they have an excellent reputation among trade associations and other partners including British Fashion Council and Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT) “IMIE have been tremendous partners for the SMMT and the UK motor industry their consultative approach together with their vision, experience, skills and dedication have transformed the Motor Show” Seftton Samuels - Commercial Director - SMMT
How and why was IMIE selected?
As a government agency and given the value of the contract, VisitBritain is required to follow procurement procedures established by the Official Journal for the European Union (OJEU). VisitBritain advertised the tender on 31 October 2007 with bids submitted by 12 December and subsequent pitch presentations undertaken week commencing 7 January 2008. Tenders were submitted and considered against published award criteria. VisitBritain considered the tender which offered the greatest scope to grow and develop BTTF to be that submitted by IMIE. The tender was awarded for a three year period with an option for a further two years.