Singapore – For the first time, corporate travel planners attending the Corporate Travel World (CTW) Asia-Pacific show in Bangkok in September will have the chance to check out meeting and incentive products in a vastly expanded show.

Where there used to be only 30 to 40 exhibitors at CTW, the Double Bill with Incentive Travel & Conventions, Meetings Asia (IT&CMA) is offering about 260 exhibitors.

IT&CMA, in its 12th year, is the region’s premier meetings and incentive travel show attended by some 1,200 delegates from more than 36 countries.

Project manager Ms Joanna Soh said: “We have structured the show so that CTW delegates will have ample time, at least two hours a day, to visit the exhibition. This is a totally different experience (from previous CTWs)... Everything is on one floor so it is easy to roam about.”

Ms Soh added: “CTW is geared towards learning, whereas participants at IT&CMA are actually there to negotiate and talk deals. So corporate travel managers who already know what their volume is going to be next year should take advantage of the fact that all the suppliers are under one roof, and try to work on some leads.”

Organiser of both shows, TTG Asia Media, is repeating the same Passport Programme that was first introduced at CTW last year. Corporate travel buyers who complete a minimum of 10 appointments with exhibitors, and have their passports stamped, will stand a chance to be hosted again next year in Pattaya.

Ms Soh said: “Last year we gave out 100 passports and got back 70 of them.”

CTW is now in its seventh year.

The two-day conference and exhibition is geared towards travel and entertainment management in the region and is a platform for corporates, travel management companies and suppliers to meet and discuss the impact of global and regional developments issues on business travel.

The conference this year is designed for CTW and IT&CMA delegates and a highlight is the keynote address Success though Creativity, by Mr Randall Munson of US-based Creatively Speaking. Mr Munson is one of the 55 speakers, of 2,000 in the profession internationally, who has been inducted into the Speakers’ Hall of Fame.

In collaboration with NBTA (National Business Travel Association), CTW will also hold its third Global Travel Management Exchange Forum (GTMEF), which is open only to corporate travel managers.

There are also nightly sponsored theme parties and a golf competition, providing delegates with ample networking opportunities.