The 24th edition of ITE and the 5th edition of ITE MICE were held successfully last week! There were more exhibitors, more trade and public visitors, and a recording number of newly participating countries and regions. Also new were a Geo-park theme pavilion on eco-tourism, and several new official participations and pavilions by tourism authorities mostly from Europe and the Middle East. 

We are honored that Mr. Donald Tsang, Chief Executive of the Hong Kong SAR Government, again sent a Message to welcome all participants of ITE & MICE 2010! Officiating our opening this year were Mrs. Rita Lau, JP, Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Bureau of the Government of the Hong Kong SAR , and Mr. MAN Hongwei, Director General of China National Tourism Administration. Also present were Secretary of State, H.E. So Mara of the Ministry of Tourism Cambodia , and other senior tourism officials and industry leaders from the region.

The number of trade and corporate buyers and visitors of ITE & MICE this year, including those from local, mainland China and overseas, rose 2% to 11464. Significantly, pre-registrations for all Corporate Travel seminars this year rose by some 35% to around 1200, while the training seminar by the Asia Cruise Association was 50% over-subscribed and pre-registration was suspended. These no doubt testify to the seriousness and quality of our visitors! 

Public visitors this year increased by 7% to 68900. Queue started appearing before the Travel Expo opened each day, and they apparently stayed longer resulting in crowded exhibition halls. Findings of previous surveys indicate some 70% of all public visitors preferred traveling in FIT.  

ITE & MICE is also known for its highly international profile of exhibitors! This year, the total number of exhibitors of the Expo increased 2.5% to 625. They came from 46 countries and regions, with 16 of them from Asia, 13 from Europe, 5 from the Middle East, and the rest from Africa, Americas , Oceanic, and the Pacific.

New official participations / pavilions this year came from Croatia, Guam, Israel, Jordan, Poland, Slovakia, UK, the cities of Prague and Ho Chi Minh; while the following newly participating countries Armenia, Canada, Chile, Ethiopia, Kenya, Mexico and Mongolia had only individual exhibitors.  

With nearly 90 stands, the China (mainland) pavilion was again the largest, to be followed by Japan , Taiwan , Macau, Hong Kong and South Korea . Their continuous expansion has been a major factor for rapid growth of ITE & MICE in recent year, and in fact, five of them keep expanding this year and the largest one involving doubling space required. In all, there were 35 official participations and pavilions this year, including several provincial and municipal tourism authorities which exhibited independently, and those in themes such as MICE, Wellness and Medical Tourism, and the Geo-park.  

ITE & MICE is organized by TKS Exhibition Services Ltd, and supported by China National Tourism Administration, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong, and the Macau Government Tourists Office. It was held this year from June 10 to 13 at halls 1A to 1E of the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center , with the first two days open only to trade and corporate visitors, and the last two to the public.  

The next ITE & MICE will be held from June 9 to 12, 2011 at the Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Center . For further info, please visit our trade websites of www.itehk.com and www.itehkmice.com. For enquiry, please send email to travel@tkshk.com , or fax to (852) 3520 1500.