A new trade show will bring the world — and $3 million in its first year — to Baltimore, city leaders and the show’s organizers said Tuesday.
Reed Travel Exhibitions has signed a five-year commitment and already taken an additional five-year option to make Baltimore the host city for its Americas Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition.
The new show will draw meeting and event planners from around the world and link them with travel-related exhibitors. The first show is scheduled for June 29 through July 1, 2010, and is expected to bring 3,000 attendees and $3 million in direct spending to Baltimore.
“We are just beginning to reach our potential as a destination,” Mayor Sheila Dixon said at an event to announce the booking. “We have everything we need to give us the edge over other destinations.”
The city appealed to U.K.-based Reed for its convention center, hotel space and accessibility from several major airports, but also because Baltimore isn’t as internationally recognized as other U.S. cities, said Paul Kennedy, group exhibition director for Reed.
“I think for a lot of international visitors, Baltimore is not a city they’re familiar with,” Kennedy said. “With the [convention policy] position of the city and the novelty factor, and the urban renewal going on here, there’ll be a great return on investment.”
Kennedy said Reed would maintain a staff in Baltimore through the years of the company’s commitment. The Baltimore event is a spin-off of Reed’s flagship event, the Europe Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition, held annually in Barcelona.
Bringing the show to Baltimore was a result of cooperation, not competition, said Tom Noonan, president and CEO of the Baltimore Area Convention and Visitors Association.
BACVA is part of a three-city partnership with similar organizations in Fort Worth, Texas, and Sacramento, Calif., and it was Fort Worth that suggested Baltimore as a home for the show.
“[They] said, ‘Would you like to book a five-year show,’ and I said, ‘Yeah, I think we can find some dates for that,’” Noonan said. “We can’t pay for that kind of exposure. It’s literally going to put Baltimore on the map.”
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