IMEX opens Wild Card door to new venues

New convention and conference centres in emerging destinations are being invited to apply for the 2009 IMEX Wild Card programme for the first time.

By opening the scheme to include new venues (up to three years old), IMEX hopes to give Wild Card winners a valuable global endorsement that can be used to reinforce prominence, funding and goodwill.

The IMEX Wild Card programme offers an opportunity for emerging destinations and new convention centres in such destinations to learn about the global-meetings market and to hone their offering and market positioning in front of a relevant audience of buyers.

It also provides a forum for winners to build important contacts and potential partnerships for the future.

IMEX will be offering four free Wild Card places at its 2009 trade show, taking place from 26-28 May in Messe, Frankfurt.

Each winner will receive a place in the Wild Card 'Look to the Future' pavilion in addition to a support package, including year-round marketing and sales advice, plus subsidised air travel and accommodation.

Applicants are not allowed to have exhibited at a major meetings or incentive travel trade fair before.

They must also demonstrate the commitment and capacity to handle new business and must show their destination has the infrastructure to support the demands of the meetings and incentive-travel market.

Recent winners of IMEX Wild Card places have included Armenia, Addis Ababa, City of Praia in the Cape Verde Islands and Transylvania.

The closing deadline for Wild Card 2009 entries is 14 November 2008.

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