High hopes for BTTF

The British Travel Trade Fair gets underway in Birmingham on Wednesday, and organisers hope it will be the best show to date. The event spans two days and has attracted 414 exhibitors, including 31 first time exhibitors like Vodafone, Destination Wessex and Leisure Breaks. London is best represented with 15% of the total space, an increase of 41% on the previous year. The South East is also prominent with 10% of space and the Heart of England with 8%. Scotland and Wales have taken 7.5% and 7% respectively. The main event is the launch of the latest phase of Visit Britain’s City Culture campaign by Richard Caborn, minister of tourism as well as the unveiling of the Sea Britain campaign, which is being launched in 2005 to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. Visitors will also hear the story so far on the Enjoy England campaign, launched in April 2003. BTTF event manager, Graeme Barnett says the event is all about networking, and the theme for this year’s BTTF is “Connecting British Tourism”. A spokesperson for BTTF told TravelMole: “There is a good quality of visitor at BTTF so you can get a lot of business done in the domestic market.” He added that the show also attracted a few overseas visitors. According to BTTF, British tourism is worth almost £40,000 million, and following a bumper year for the industry in 2003, the show has the potential to be the most successful yet. For more details on the seminars taking place, see last week’s BTTF preview or go to the event website. Report by Ginny McGrath