From October 19 to October 22 , USAID Turizam representatives carried out a series of business-to-business meetings in Singapore. This year’s ITB Asia business meetings and conference program was titled “Go Big & Go Forward: The Tourism Sector on the Path to Growth and Recovery.” More than 180 industry professionals, including the sector’s most prominent buyers and international exhibitors, had the opportunity to share their insights on key trends and give advice on how to remain competitive and efficiently optimize the industry’s growth potential.
As part of the visit to the ITB fair, the Canton Sarajevo Tourism Association (Visit Sarajevo) and representatives of seven tour operators had a joint presentation, attracting a great number of visitors with its appealing design and rich offering. Among the meetings organized by USAID Turizam is one with the ASEAN Tourism Association, which represents ten countries in Southeast Asia with a total population of 700 million people. Also, a meeting was held with the Philippine Travel Agencies Association (PTAA), which gathers 500 companies in the market that is interesting due to the high number of Catholic pilgrimages. . At these meetings, they discussed the possibilities of cooperation for presenting BiH tourism potential throughout the ASEAN region, with a focus on Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and the Philippines. One of the secondary results of this meeting was an agreement reached with the leadership of the Association of Tour Operators and Travel Agencies in Malaysia to sign a cooperation agreement at the upcoming World Travel Market 2022 in London.
This significant opportunity was utilized by USAID Turizam to promote MICE tourism, which is based on organizing meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions. This tourism niche aims to bring together leading professionals from different industries in a hospitality-friendly environment. This year’s ITB Asia Fair had a record-breaking 27,000 business meetings focusing on MICE tourism, corporate travel, tourism, and travel technology.
“Go Big & Go Forward” as a new perspective in the tourism industry
The challenging pandemic period is now a thing of the past, bringing with it an abundance of chances and choices for tourism development. As one of the greatest fairs in the world, ITB Asia brought together industry leaders, consumers, and foreign exhibitors, sending a strong message to the public that the tourism industry had restored the trust of tourists and embarked on a path of growth and success. This is a great spot for tourism business meetings with the purpose of forming new partnerships and strengthening existing ones with the region’s most influential players.
USAID Turizam acknowledges the significance of events that, in one location, bring together tourism industry experts at the top of their respective industries and provide a balanced combination of geographical disparity, thereby providing a high-quality experience for both buyers and sellers. USAID Turizam expands its network of foreign travel agencies with whom the BiH tourism sector can collaborate by supporting the participation of the local tourism market in prestigious world fairs such as ITB Asia.
The basis for assisting Bosnia and Herzegovina in achieving its tourist potential in terms of increasing expenditure, length of stay, and dispersion is a robust local seller agent network that is well connected to worldwide tour operators and tourism agencies.
