Business Travel Show Dubai cancelled

The 2009 instalment of The Business Travel Show Dubai has been cancelled.

The current financial crisis is to blame, said event director Sally Maltby of UK-based Centaur Exhibitions, who revealed that buyers’ and exhibitors’ budgets had been frozen.

However, the show will re-convene in 2010 when economic conditions are expected to have improved, she assured.

"The decision to run the next show in 2010 has been in response to the budget restrictions currently being experienced by exhibitors and the travel bans currently enforced on some visitors. Both these restrictions are expected to have been removed by mid 2010, which is vital for an enhanced and successful pan-GCC show,” she said.

Maltby said some exhibitors had been keen to go ahead, but with many under pressure to cut back, it “made sense” to postpone the show as many buyers may not have been able to attend.

The partnership between Centaur Exhibitions and Dnata’s World of Events, who jointly run the shows would continue, Maltby continued.

“We have run two successful Business Travel Shows with World of Events and we value their partnership and local knowledge,” she said.

When asked if exhibitors and buyers might have changed their minds about attending the show by the time it was supposed to take place (Q4 2009) when economic conditions had potentially bucked up, Maltby said: “I think there are some signs already that things are getting better, but I think that we have to listen to our customers and by running the show in 2010, we run at a time when there is likely to be a greater understanding from visitors of the need to embrace a proper travel management policy and spend their business travel budgets more effectively, whilst exhibitors will have budgets to spend and a greater need to promote themselves, so the show will really come into its own.”

The 2010 instalment would most likely take place in October, with a date set to be announced shortly, she added.

However, the 2009 instalments of the UK and German Business Travel Shows will still go ahead.

“The 2009 event in London has already taken place and the Dusseldorf event will take place in September this year,” said Maltby.

“Our European shows are better placed to deal with the downturn as they take place in more mature markets in terms of business travel.”

Maltby also said the 2010 show would be bigger and better than previous shows because   “when the economy starts to recover properly, we would expect to see greater competition amongst airlines, hotel groups, TMCs and others targeting business travellers”.

“There is likely to be a greater need to promote the benefits of particular business travel products and services and by 2010, travel managers and other relevant visitors in the Middle East should also have a better understanding of the need to spend their business travel budgets more effectively, ensure they have a proper travel policy in place and do business with the right companies - this can be achieved by visiting the various suppliers and free education programme at the Business Travel Show Dubai,” she added.