Dr Martin Buck, the man in charge of putting together the inaugural Asian edition of ITB, recounts the lessons learnt and what customers can expect from the first event opening in Singapore this month.

For Dr Martin Buck, putting the first ITB Asia together in Singapore has been "one of the most interesting and instructive experiences" in his life.

The Director of Messe Berlin (Singapore), who was charged with organising the inaugural Asian edition of the highly successful and established ITB Berlin, calls it "an interactive endeavour in the best sense of the word".

"You have to put in your whole heart and soul, your knowledge and identity. You have to be capable of setting up a network and creating mutually satisfying partnerships. And you should be prepared to learn from the relevant environment and to adapt to whatever fulfils your customers needs," he said.

With under a month to go before the first ITB Asia opens its doors on 22 October, Dr Buck and his team have been busy putting everything in place to ensure a successful event.

The first hurdle of selling exhibitor booths was successfully surmounted with all 500 booth units sold by July. The second hurdle was that of securing the buyers.

In September, Messe Berlin announced that more than 800 travel buyers had been qualified and confirmed as hosted buyers for the inaugural ITB Asia.

Almost 70% of the buyers at ITB Asia are from Asia. Europe, the Middle East and Oceania (including Australia and New Zealand), will each supply about 10% of the total buyers. About 60% of the buyers come from the leisure travel sector, 30% are predominantly MICE buyers and 10% are purchasing corporate travel.

Dr Buck said the 800 number was a "fluid" figure because the confirmation process was still in full swing and "we hear from our Asian partners that the trend in Asia to do last minute bookings is even more prevalent than in Europe".

He added, "Looking at the fact that ITB Asia is a first time show, we are highly encouraged by the strong interest from the buyers as well as from the exhibitors side. There is strong demand for the type of travel trade show we are envisioning."

He said customers of ITB Asia could expect a "broad, colourful and, above all, demand-oriented variety of travel products and strong buying power from all sectors of the industry".

"Expect to meet people from the trade with whom it is worth the while to establish long term relationships. Expect also to harvest state-of-the-art industry expertise and hands-on orientation how to tackle prevalent market trends," he said.

Singling out the points that would differentiate ITB Asia from other travel trade shows in the region, he said, "First, it is our ambition to seriously focus on the Asian travel market as a source market and as an outgoing market.

"Second, ITB Asia offers a comparatively high number of exhibitors and also a high number of high potential buyers compared to other events in the region.

"Third, ITB Asia has a convention programme tied to it which not only covers one but all important industry sectors and is based on cooperation with partners that are renowned for their excellence in the respective fields: WIT-Web In Travel, MPI (Meeting Planners International) and ACTE (Association of Corporate Travel Executives)."

With nearly two years of work under its belt in organising this first event, Dr Buck said, "We are still in the learning process and it will probably never end which is good because learning is mostly fun."

Lessons have been learnt and these will be incorporated into ITB Asia next year.

Mostly, what he's learnt is that the key to putting together an event like ITB Asia is to "be open and motivated. Present a brand, a concept, a product that is attractive to your customers. Be prepared to learn and to adapt. Find the right people that are prepared to cooperate with you."

Added Dr Buck: "So far we have been delighted by the high demand on the exhibitors and the buyers side. Till now we have been spared from negative surprises on a bigger scale - what currently bothers me most is the global financial downturn which is causing hardship for people. We would all benefit from a period of stability with no further economic shocks between now and ITB Asia."

And after the first ITB Asia is over, what Dr Buck would like both buyers and sellers to say is, "That was a fantastic event, very useful indeed for my company. I'm going home to encourage all my industry colleagues to participate in next year's ITB Asia."