RE: GULF2000 REVIE

The event was under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince Mashal ibin Majed ibin Abdulaziz Al-Saud, Governor of Jeddah, who was reported as being visibly and vocally impressed by the event and has pledged his full support for the future of the exhibition. This will include the smoother processing of late Visa applications, for next year's event.

For your information, please find below a summary of the GULF2000 visitor statistics:-

	908 registered Saudi Travel Trade visitors from all over the Kingdom who expressed that they had direct purchasing authority. This is over three times the number of Saudi trade buyers that attend any other travel event in the Middle East;
	In addition, we registered a further 653 trade visitors from Saudi (who did not express purchasing authority) and other Gulf States;
	19 overseas VIP Hosted Buyers attended the event - all of whom were specialist ME outbound trade in their respective countries - 10 of these were dedicated Haj & Umra operators;
	On the last 2 days 1,915 local travelling public also visited GULF2000.

Of the 52 Exhibitor questionnaires received back from our exhibitors so far, 41 have ticked the box for "Definitely intending to participate in 2001" - this represents nearly 80% compared to 30% immediately after GULF'99 last year. The remaining 20% of this year's exhibitors ticked "Still Considering". Nobody ticked "Will not be participating".

Changes we are making to the 2001 event:-

One aspect of the event which was particularly gratifying was the positive, constructive advice given to us by our exhibitors. We really got the sense that the industry fully supports this event and cares about it's future growth and development, from the foundations we have laid at the Kingdom's inaugural event, launched just five months ago in April.

We have listened carefully to all our exhibitors, who were unanimous in two areas, For these two areas, our plans are already underway to improve the 2001 Jeddah event:-

The first adjustment we are making next year is to alter the show hours. This year we tried to implement continuous hours of 11am to 6pm on the first two trade days. The aim was to maintain the business momentum throughout the day, especially for the many international participants, without formally stopping for lunch. However in Saudi Arabia we recognise that the prayer and lunch period between 1pm and 4pm is strictly adhered to, which led to a noticeably quieter period during these hours on-site. For GULF2001, the show hours will be 10am-1pm and will resume from 5pm to 10pm.

Secondly, without exception, our exhibitors have requested that dates of the event are brought forward to mid / late May 2001. The general opinion is that this will enable exhibitors to meet the important Saudi outbound trade BEFORE the Saudi summer domestic and outbound travelling period between June and September. Therefore, subject to Venue availability, we will move forward the event to May or latest early June 2001, in line with the strong demand of our exhibitors.

Finally, for GULF2001, we are also forming closer relations with support Partner Saudi Arabian Airlines who we hope will offer complimentary Kingdom-wide travel for all their GSAs to travel internally to the event in the most cost-effective way. And for the inbound Saudi product, we plan to involve Saudia's worldwide regional directors who we will request to bring with them a delegation of their top trade clients from their respective countries. By definition, these GSA's are the top outbound buyers of the Gulf and Saudi travel product, from around the world".

Already we are planning to build upon the quality buyers delivered at GULF2000, to also deliver the perception and quantity of visitors associated with established travel events in the Middle East.

Ronan McCarthy
Exhibition Director
ITE Travel Exhibitions