Chile gets ready for FIEXPO Latin America 2019

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7th Feb, 2019
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The next edition of FIEXPO Latin America, which will take place in Santiago de Chile from June 10 to 12, will be Chile’s farewell after completing three increasingly successful calls year after year, leaving behind an invaluable legacy for the meetings and incentive market in Chile.

The Pre Workshop that was organized in Concepción last year will now take place in the Chilean Patagonia. An important group of Hosted Buyers will travel there to learn on site about the infrastructure and services offered by this region and participants will have the opportunity to hold meetings with local business people.

The Workshop will be held from June 7 to 10, before the Santiago Trade Show; its guests will be carefully selected based on the potential of the destination and the requirements of authorities and business people in the sector.

As it is typical of FIEXPO Latin America, buyers and exhibitors will have a chance to meet, either at the pre-scheduled meetings, at the networking instances or at social events, as these are all pleasant environments to meet each other, and are good opportunities to develop personal trust that is later on reflected in future business.

On Monday, before the fair starts, following a 5-year tradition, there will be a Latin American Political Forum on Meetings Tourism. This event attracts more and more interest from the political class in the continent and even beyond, as reflected by the participation last year of a delegation from Barcelona, which included Mr. Christoph Tessmar, Executive Director of the Barcelona Convention Bureau, Mr. Joan Torrela, Director of Tourism and Mr. Agustí Colom, Councilor for Tourism, Trade and Markets of Barcelona.

To be highlighted, the forum was attended by several ministers and tourism top government authorities, and representatives from regional countries included but not limited to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Mexico, Paraguay and Uruguay, as well as other delegations representing several convention bureaus and ambassadors accredited in Chile.

As hosts of this event, the Chilean delegation was obviously present with its top officials, such as the Minister of Economy, Development and Tourism, Mr. José Ramón Valente, and the Undersecretary of Tourism Mrs. Mónica Zalaquett, as well as senior government authorities and several agencies of the capital and the various regions of Chile.

For this year, the expectations are even greater, as the event has attracted the interest of several delegations that are already confirming their attendance, as they are eager to participate in the continent’s top event at a public/private level, which is specialised in meetings tourism, business trips and incentives, a market that is playing an increasingly significant role in the growth of revenues and the creation of jobs in Latin American countries.

Once again, the Fair will be held at Casapiedra in the city of Santiago; it is already reaching all the footage it can offer exhibitors, given that many countries are increasing the size of their booths and pavilions. As a result of the commercial success of previous editions, there are more and more companies that participate from each country.

This also becomes a challenge for the organisers, since FIEXPO Latin America maintains its commitment to convene a number of Hosted Buyers in direct relation with the exhibitors, so as to ensure two days for business meetings for everyone involved.

As has been repeatedly expressed by the directors of FIEXPO Latin America, Arnaldo Nardone and Sergio Baritussio, “the success of FIEXPO lies in the success of the meetings, in the generation of real business for the exhibitors who trust our proposal as a genuine option to establish contact with companies CEOs and directors of professional associations that seek new destinations, venues and services for their events. The guarantee offered by FIEXPO in terms of the quality of its Hosted Buyers is the guarantee that the exhibitors have of generating business. And this is reflected with the increase in demand and the international projection of the Fair year after year.”

Of course, the training opportunities are not minor, and the audience is always eager to exchange ideas and to learn about the new global tendencies. A key element accounting for that is the partnership that FIEXPO maintains with ICCA (the International Congresses and Conventions Association) since the members of the association have top-level educational instances that they also share with the local public. The designation of FIEXPO Latin America as ICCA’s "Association Relations Partner", exclusively for Latin America, is just one example of the strong relationship between FIEXPO and the world’s top association of the associative congresses market.

Since the first edition of FIEXPO Latin America twelve years ago, its organisers have strived to reach a goal, and they have succeeded over time, i.e., they have managed to create an environment for business, work, social interaction, exchange of ideas and camaraderie, in short, to establish the Meetings Market Week for Latin America and the Caribbean.

To that end, the organisers have propitiated meetings of the sector’s associations, providing the means and space to the management boards of these entities. This is the case of associations that include, among others, ACCCLATAM (Association of Convention Centers of the Caribbean and Latin America), COCAL (Federation of Latin American Conferences Organizers and Allied Organizations) and the Latin America and Caribbean Convention Bureaus Association.

But it also encourages the participation of the most important continental and global entities through various activities that benefit international and local participants, such as the different seminars, including IAPCO (International Association of Professional Congress Organizers), SITE South America, ASAE (American Society of Association Executives), etc.

Also to be highlighted is FIEXPO’s appointment by JMIC (Joint Meeting Industry Council) as the continental organisation exclusively in charge of handing out the Iceberg Award to events that stand out for their legacy to the community.

Besides being a global innovation in this type of trade fairs, the opportunity to present destinations during social activities has been a resounding commercial and communications success. The lunches and breakfasts that showcase cities and countries of the continent have exceeded the expectations of the organisation, with a demand that exceeds the real possibilities of confirmation in the days of the Fair.

The Gala Dinner held for the first time two years ago in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of FIEXPO Latin America was a spectacular success, so much so that participants, exhibitors and hosted buyers have since insisted that it should be repeated. It then became an event in itself, where in addition to the elegance of the participants, live music with Latin bands and fun, a space of fraternization and enjoyable meeting was created.

Notwithstanding, the Gala Dinner also provides a moment of recognition to various personalities from entities and industry associations, so each year the institutions that offer their Annual Award also join the event in this occasion, as the classic case of the Latino Award of Editorial Eventos Latinoamericanos, as well as the recognitions of the Association of Latin American and Caribbean Bureaus, ACCCLATAM, ICCA, SITE South America, to name but a few.

On the other hand, something very important that FIEXPO offers to all the destinations that participate, but especially to the host city and host country, is the special and high-quality selection of specialised media from the meetings, fairs, incentives and business travel market, both from the continent and global.

The agreements with publications such as the Brazilian journal Eventos, or the Chilean journal with the same name, Eventos Latinoamericanos, Punto Mice from Spain, among others, ensure a high level of promotion internationally.

However, for some years we have had the ongoing support of the Brussels-based magazine Headquarters, which is distributed worldwide, and we have had promotion in the most important international trade shows in the industry worldwide.

This year FIEXPO is inviting Paul Colston, Editor of the Exhibition World Journal (edited by Mash Media of London, the official publication of UFI -Union of International Fairs-)  to participate in the workshop in Patagonia and the Fair in Santiago. Also, we will receive a representative of Cat Publications, also based in London.

There are many activities and instances planned for participants this year, including some surprises that are expected to be of use to people in both sides of the counter: for exhibitors and for hosted buyers/business visitors.

So you can save the date: from June 10 to 12 in Casapiedra, Santiago, Chile, to attend the Latin America and Caribbean Global Fair of the Meetings Market: FIEXPO Latin America, a Latin American proposal by Latin Americans.

www.fiexpolatinamerica.com

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