Tuesday October 17 marked the first day of the IMEX America trade show in Las Vegas, and it got off to a flying start, to say the least. Buyers have been arriving in droves, and exhibitors are enthusiastic about their willingness to book fast.
Also of great interest were the numerous themed parallel sessions, covering all aspects of the events and MICE sector, as well as personal development and well-being, which IMEX attaches great importance to, considering them not as an option but as the foundation of a successful professional experience at the show. An approach much appreciated by visitors looking for keys to success in their professional activities.
The energy and joy were infectious in the aisles of the show, which set a series of records this year: space up by 20% and number of stands up by 9%, with over 360 stands. Nearly half of all exhibitors have increased their stand area, with Morocco, Japan and Hong Kong even doubling theirs. This year's show is officially the largest in its 12-year history.
The 3,400 exhibitors - hotel groups, destinations from all over the world, DMCs and tech start-ups - and the 4,000 or so buyers (also a record!) will experience over 70,000 meetings over three days.
For IMEX Group CEO Carina Bauer, all these figures testify to the resilience and robustness of a sector that many saw as having been struck down for several years: "The global business events industry never fails to surprise in its ability to recover quickly from a set-back" she adds, "In such a turbulent world, it behoves us to focus on the underlying impact of our sector: bringing people together to deepen human connections and mutual benefits. We'll keep that in mind as we do business here this week".
IMEX America continues through Thursday at the Mandalay Bay.
Sylvie Leroy, enthusiastic publisher since 1999 Her passion for luxury hospitality, "a score perfectly performed by a fantastic orchestra" as she often says, led Sylvie Leroy to build in 2004 Journal des Palaces the sole online daily news dedicated to luxury hospitality with news, jobs, directories and resources.
