Gothenburg, Sweden, played host to this year’s well-received City Break, organized by the European Tour Operators Association in partnership with Reed Travel Exhibitions.
The event allowed city tourism suppliers in Europe to meet with leading tour operators and online agents. “The quality of buyer delegates who attended City Break was excellent. They all seemed serious within the appointments, said exhibitor Denise Atkinson. “I am really hoping that some of this will translate into real business.”
City Break brought together buyers and suppliers using a system of pre-scheduled appointments. Tour operators, wholesalers and online distributors have the opportunity to meet hoteliers, city tourist boards and ground service suppliers and source new destinations and new product. “City Break 2009 helped us establish new buyers from airlines, on line booking agents and brokers, as well as specialist operators interested in collaborating in a good number of the countries where we have hotels,” said Nicholas Borg of Corinthia Hotels.
The great European cities, from Amsterdam to Zurich, were represented, including Antwerp, Barcelona, Bilbao, Bratislava, Brussels, Copenhagen, Dublin, Geneva, Helsinki, Ljubljana, Madrid, Malmo, Oslo, Rotterdam, Salzburg, Split, Stockholm, Valencia, Vienna, Warsaw, Zagreb and many more. The cities of Eastern Europe are well represented, including Riga, Vilnius, Tallinn, Warsaw and Belgrade. “I like City Breaks as a real meeting of professionals with professionals,” said Andrzej Rutkowski, who traveled all the way from Poland.
“Ideal venue to discuss current market situation and review future commitments,” said Stefano Camassa. “It also helped me look more into city destinations rather then the country destination.”
As for the host city, Anousjka Schmidt of Brussels International said: “Great city, great venue, great organization, great appointments. Thanks for everything! I am already looking forward to my fifth participation.”
Indeed, with the positive response from both exhibitors and buyers, City Break has affirmed it place as a new way to experience the new EU countries and what their cities have to offer. Weekend holidays, short meeting and events, everything can be found in cities in Europe. “We think it is a great opportunity to have a workshop, specializing in our major business theme as city hotels and attractions. Here not the size matters but the quality of the event,” said Kurther Mandurg of Kronprinz Hotels in Germany.
The Gothenburg event hosted 190 delegates from 130 companies from 70 cities, based in 25 countries. Among them were 108 exhibitors and 76 buyers from 63 companies based in 15 countries.
