The international profile of AIME 2008 has taken a boost with 850 exhibitors from 50 countries are expected to showcase their products and services. From Asia and the Pacific to Europe, Middle East, Africa and North America, there will be strong international representation at the event in Melbourne, 19-20 February.

Many international exhibitors have taken larger stands at AIME this year including the Dubai Department of Tourism & Commerce Marketing which has doubled its space to 180 square metres. China National Tourist Office, the Korea Tourism Organization, the Canadian Tourism Commission, Hawaii, the Philippines, Brunei and Macau have all increased their space.

Rosemarie Sama, event director for AIME 2008, said: “The strong international support for AIME highlights the global recognition of the strategic value of meetings as an element of corporate activity. We continue to see strong support for our events across our portfolio. Companies are migrating from traditional print advertising to live meetings and events, fuelling demand and giving rise to optimism when the Government and/or private sectors decide to invest in new meetings infrastructure."

She added that on top of that huge new markets are emerging adding to this demand. "What we are seeing first hand is that the incentive industry outbound from China is booming, outbound meetings business from South America is now real and domestic business in Eastern Europe, Greece and Turkey are very strong," she said.