CHINA’s biggest import and export trade fair has roped in travel distribution expert Travelport to promote attendance at the event to business travellers.
Yu Yi, deputy general manager of Canton Fair, told TTGmice e-Weekly that his company intends to “leverage on Travelport’s strong global corporate network to win new business visitors… and maximise brand awareness”.
Travelport, through its Destination Marketing Solution, will target B2B business travellers who are headed for Hong Kong and encourage them to extend their trip to Guangzhou where Canton Fair will be held from October 15 to November 5 this year.
Explaining the procedure, Anna Au-Yeung, global head of Destination Marketing, Travelport, said that once a targeted traveller is identified by the Global Distribution System, the travel consultant’s desktop will flash messages from Canton Fair to recommend the event to the traveller and to register the individual for the tradeshow.
The travel consultant will be rewarded for every registration and attendance, while the traveller will enjoy a waiver on registration fees and be given a US$100 coupon for use at the tradeshow or designated hotels.
Au-Yeung said: “Travelers today are gravitating towards trips that are tailored to their personal requirements and they value the services of a consultant who can plan their trips to cover all their needs. This process we have for Canton Fair enables our agency partners to provide a value-added service to their customers and increase their revenues at the same time.”
Acknowledging that “competition has become very keen”, Yu said Canton Fair must “maintain its pioneering lead and be innovative in expanding its distribution channels”.
Hence, besides engaging Travelport for marketing and ticketing, Canton Fair has been cooperating with chambers of commerce, travel agencies, airlines and marketing companies to introduce various business programmes.
“For example the fair has launched an Advertisement Reward for New Buyers, a programme that rewards qualified buyers for their first visit to the fair, and a Buyer Recruitment Program for our business partners. We also organise video conferences that broadcast live promotions with Canton Fair partners from different continents. On social media Canton Fair has a massive 250,000 followers on Facebook and that figure continues to grow,” Yu said.
This is Canton Fair’s second year of partnership with Travelport. In 2014 Canton Fair worked with Travelport to grow buyer registration through B2C business travellers.
