UK tourism exhibition is ditched
Next year’s Travel Trade Britain, due to take place at Birmingham’s National Exhibition Centre (NEC) in March, has been cancelled.
Instead, VisitBritain said all sectors of the industry will unite behind Best of Britain & Ireland 2010 (BoBI), scheduled for 17-20 March 2010 at London’s Olympia.
Expo Management, the organiser of last March’s inaugural Travel Trade Britain (TTB) show, has pledged its full support for the London event.
Its managing director Mark Griffin said: "Travel Trade Britain was launched in response to real industry concerns that the new format of BoBI might not fully meet the needs of coach operators and group travel organisers.
"Following BOBI’s successful debut in March, we believe these concerns have been very largely met.
"As a result we are cancelling TTB and committing our energies and some 125 years of coach travel industry experience to work closely with VisitBritain and the BOBI organisers to help ensure that group and coach travel is raised up the agenda with Government, VisitBritain and the national tourist boards.
"Withdrawing TTB will allow everyone to galvanise efforts behind one national event and I would like to offer my sincere thanks to each and every exhibitor, visitor and sponsor who made TTB 2009 possible.
"Making this announcement now means that they can adjust their plans for next year with minimal inconvenience and I encourage them all to commit to Best of Britain & Ireland in 2010."
By Bev Fearis
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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