IBTM World returned to Barcelona for its three-day event from November 29th to December 1st, and it is the latest event to have surpassed certain 2019 metrics in another exciting milestone for the industry. Many events in the first half of the year continued to struggle with low attendance numbers, but more recent trade shows and conferences seem to be bucking the trend.
IBTM World went fully virtual in 2020 and experimented with an asynchronous hybrid format in 2021, with IBTM World Online taking place following the in-person component. This year, however, the event was back to fully in-person and is reporting strong numbers compared to both 2021 and — more importantly — 2019.
This year’s theme was culture creation, and IBTM indicated prior to the event that the number of pre-scheduled appointments and visitor registrations were tracking ahead of 2019 levels. The event ended up welcoming over 10,000 global attendees, with 100,000 business meetings taking place throughout the three days, which was a record. Time will tell whether these positive trends will continue, but things are certainly looking up compared to last year.
Over 2,200 exhibitors from 150 countries were present, in addition to over 2,200 corporate, agency, and association buyers. During the event, IBTM also announced a new three-year contract with Barcelona Convention Bureau and Fira de Barcelona, keeping the event in Barcelona at least through 2025. The next edition is scheduled for November 28-30, 2023.
“IBTM World 2022 has been a fantastic success, surpassing all our expectations with more quality one-to-one business meetings taking place per attendee than in 2019,” said David Thompson, IBTM World Event Director. “It was brilliant to receive feedback on the show floor that there is so much appetite for doing business that many exhibitors and buyers have already scheduled additional meetings to take place in the coming weeks. There has been a real sense of excitement and we look forward to returning to Barcelona in 2023.”