MADI Travel Market confirmed the positive developmental tendency of the past.
The enlargement of some exhibits, especially the stands of national and regional tourist boards, offset a slight decrease of the number of exhibitors. This year brought a small decrease in the number of table modules because of the bigger sizes of some exhibits. Some of the exhibitors from the last year changed from stands to table modules, and some of those with tables decided on stands. A few of the past exhibitors became visitors, but new companies participated as exhibitors this year for the first time.
The number of the stands of national and regional tourist boards increased again compared to the last year. It was a great pleasure to welcome to the MADI Travel Market not only our annual exhibitors, including tourist boards, but some new exhibitors as well as those who decided to participate after an absence of a year or more. The nature of the tourist board exhibitions changed very little–typically an entire stand represented a single country or district and inside it were commercial representatives available for business negotiations.
The list of exhibitors this year included a few companies that produce software for travel agencies. Those companies held interesting presentations as a part of MADI’s accompanying program. The attendance of software companies provides evidence of the increasing importance of the Internet as a medium for communication in the tourism industry not only among travel agencies and their final clients but also among the travel agencies and their commissioned sellers.
The statistics reveal that this year marked the first time that the number of foreign exhibitors at the MADI Travel Market was substantially higher then the number of exhibitors from the Czech Republic. The most noted increase was in participants from Hungary and Italy. The MADI Travel Market again proved it is the travel fair in the Czech Republic with the largest number of foreign exhibitors.
The number of the visitors to MADI has been constant for many years, and the number attending this year was similar to that of last year and years before. Foreign managers were especially prominent among those who registered, and they comprised approximately 20 percent of the foreign visitors.

OUTGOING
Firms representing traditional Czech outgoing destinations, such as Croatia, Slovak Republic, and Austria, again led in attendance this year, but other countries were not far behind. Spain was well represented not only by its tourist board and independent companies with their own expositions but also by the stand of the region of Benidorm. Mexico enlarged its exhibition this year and strengthened it with the addition of a few new subjects. The increase of the number of the Italian exhibitors, as mentioned above, was apparent with the larger number of Italian regions at the fair. After a year’s absence, MADI had the pleasure of welcoming again the region of Calabria through the participation of the firm Buy Calabria. As in the past, the region of Apulia had representatives at MADI, and Emilia Romagna as well as Friuli Venezia Giulia were new participants. Their exhibits included a number of commercial interests from their regions. Skirama Dolomiti, with its offering of winter activities, participated this year as it has in the past.
For the third time, the Croatian Tourist Board organized its well-attended Croatian Workshop, where more then 50 companies presented their offerings. Croatian exhibitors were also at some of the other expositions.
The stands of the big national tourist boards of Austria, Slovakia, and Hungary represented destinations in Central Europe. As in the past, it was impossible to miss the Austrian exposition, where visitors could find the comprehensive offerings and services of our southern neighbor. Slovakia, like Croatia, presented its country’s attractions through the Slovak Workshop, which included a sampling of traditional Slovak dishes. The Slovak Tourist Board had a press conference that highlighted the main tourist sights of the Slovak Republic. The Hungarian Workshop of the Hungarian Tourist Board was in its second year and featured the hotel chain Danubius Hotels. This year, instead of presenting every particular hotel, as in the past, the focus was on particular regions or the orientation of groups of hotels in the Danubius chain. Chefs of the Danubius Hotel chain prepared samples of Hungarian cuisine to the delight of the participants.
As the popularity of exotic destinations grows every year, so does the number of exotic exhibitors at the MADI Travel Market. For example, the managers of travel agencies again discussed the possibilities of experiencing „perpetual summer“ all around the world–the Pacific, Indian Ocean, Africa, Asia, Carribean, and South America.

INCOMING IN CZECH REPUBLIC
BUY CZECH REPUBLIC, BUY CENTRAL EUROPE WORKSHOP
The Hosted Buyer Program for foreign buyers who are interested in incoming services in Prague and Czech Republic is a traditional event during the MADI Travel Fair. The entire program in Prague and throughout the regions of the Czech Republic had no government subsidies.
This year 116 buyers applied to the Hosted Buyer Program, but in actuality, 72 hosted buyers from 19 countries came to Prague. Buyer recruiting concentrated on important and well-established markets: Russia, Italy and other EU states, the Asian countries of Korea, China, and Japan, and the South American countries, such as Argentina, Brazil, and Peru. A rich several-day program in Prague and in Czech regions included hosted buyers who came from all parts of the world.
This year we organized 15 companies as part of the Russian Buyers Group in cooperation with partners in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. A special program for Russian tour operators who organize wellness and spa tours took place within the framework of the MADI Hosted Buyer Program. It consisted of segments dedicated to acquaint participants with services at Czech spas. The Russian group came a few days prior the MADI Travel Market and participated in the pre-program especially designed for them that involved a specialized two-day tour in the Moravian-Silesian region. They finished in Prague, where they joined the MADI Hosted Buyer Program.
The MADI Hosted Buyer Program started with the seminar „Historical and Cultural Highlights of the Czech Republic–New Products and Themes“, introducing new and interesting segments, such as Golf and Congress Tourism, Czech Beer, Czech Cuisine, Weddings, Fine Dining, Castles, Chateaux, Manors, Souvenirs to Take Home, Folklore Revived, and The Czech Phenomenon–Country Houses and Cottages. The special program for participants offered a guided tour of Prague, trips to Czech regions, and a rich evening program in Ann’s Peat Spa.
The two trips this year to Czech regions were a one-day tour to South Bohemia (Tabor, Ceske Budejovice, and Cesky Krumlov) and a two-day excursion to Central and North Bohemia called The Glass Path (Sychrov Castle, Liberec, Harrachov, and Jablonec nad Nisou).