ITCA Abu Dhabi – ‘Gateway to the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Pacific’.
ITCA, the International Travel Catering Association, is delighted to announce that it is partnering with SIAL Middle East to bring a specialist trade show, conference and networking forum to Abu Dhabi on 26th- 28th November 2012. The event is to be sponsored by Etihad Airways, the national airline of the United Arab Emirates.
ITCA President Stephen White comments: ”We are very excited to be joining forces with such industry giants as SIAL Group, the world’s largest network of professional food events, and of course Etihad Airways whose standards of inflight service are legendary. Taking the event to Abu Dhabi is a unique and unmissable opportunity. Acclaimed for its experience as an elite organiser of business events, our exhibitors and visitors will benefit from the highest levels of support from SIAL Group, including a dedicated hosted buyer programme which will guarantee attendance from the airline industry’s leading food and beverage buyers. Etihad Airways will also be offering special exclusive discounts for exhibitors and attendees travelling with them for the event.
The Middle East is one of the world’s leading growth markets for both air traffic and cruise passengers.
According to a recent report by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), regional airlines recorded a 14.5 per cent year-on-year increase in RPK (revenue passenger kilometres) in January 2012, the highest growth of any region. And further growth is expected with Airbus predicting that Middle East airlines will be buying 1,000 new aircraft worth US$124 billion between now and 2023.
Driven by economic growth, expatriate workers and a young and wealthy population, these well positioned hubs are enabling Middle East carriers to continue to improve their share of long-haul markets.
“The rise in passenger traffic in the Middle East provides a great opportunity for the catering and foodservice industry. The region’s airlines continue to raise industry standards with their innovative in-flight services.” White added
ITCA exhibited at the World Travel Catering Expo in Hamburg 27th- 29th March, the first event of its kind since the ITCA European event was incorporated into the Aircraft Interiors show in Hamburg. On its stand full details of the new Abu Dhabi event were available including updates on all the ITCA networking opportunities on which the association built its 31-year history. Also to be included in the Abu Dhabi ITCA Middle East event is the world-renowned Mercury Awards, presented in the Middle East for the first time.
Please see www.itcaabudhabi.com for further information.
Click here to view the Presidents Press Release in full
The First World Travel Catering and On Board Services Expo incorporating ITCA was held in Hamburg 27 – 29 March 2012.
ITCA had a stand at this inaugural event and saw many of the usual exhibitors and visitors. Stephen White, ITCA President said “It was gratifying to see such a large exhibition in this the first of the new trade shows organised by Reed Exhibitions and attached to Aircraft Interiors. The very size of the event showed that the industry supported the move we made last year and we look forward to next year’s event, which is moving to April in 2013”.
ITCA is now concentrating on the new ITCA Abu Dhabi which is being partnered with Sial Middle East and sponsored by Etihad Airways.
ITCA and Reed Exhibitions are delighted to announce that Reed Exhibitions has acquired the ITCA European event which will be renamed World Travel Catering Expo and will take place in Hamburg from 27-29 March 2012, co-locating with Reed Exhibitions’ highly successful Aircraft Interiors Expo, that already attracts senior buyers from over 200 of the World’s major airlines.
The re-branded event World Travel Catering Expo will address the needs of food, beverage and amenity buyers across not just the airlines but also rail and leisure sea travel operators.
ITCA President Stephen White said “ITCA is continuing to listen to its members and it makes absolute sense to co-locate the biggest European onboard service sector event with the world’s largest dedicated cabin interiors exhibition. A large number of our members have for some years been visiting both events and even some of our exhibitors were participating in both events. We feel this will benefit everybody involved in the industry.
The Dubai show and other ITCA services will continue as normal. In fact, we are looking to increase the benefits to Members with some new initiatives that were discussed at our strategy meeting”.
Justin Tadman, Divisional Managing Director at Reed Exhibitions, added: “Reed Exhibitions has gained a reputation for its expertise in delivering successful events across many fields – including travel and the food industry – so we are looking forward to working with ITCA exhibitors and visitors to further enhance this event.
Acquiring the event from ITCA is strategically important and enables us to provide the travel catering industry with a quality event dedicated to their sector. World Travel Catering Expo will focus on the needs of travel passengers’ in terms of comfort, menu and amenities”.
ITCA held a 2 day strategic workshop earlier in the year, with participants including some of the industry’s largest companies and some of their most senior executives from Airlines and Rail Operators, Caterers and Suppliers including long time exhibitors. One of the main driving issues to emerge from this session was that the ITCA show and Aircraft Interiors Expo were overlapping more and more and whilst a number of participants did visit both it was felt that a whole week could be saved in their busy schedules by attending both events concurrently.
ITCA will have a presence at the event and the ITCA Board will now start to work on other strategic developments that will specifically add benefit to the Association’s members including the development of the Mercury Awards.
144 Operator Companies (Airline, Train and Shipping) were represented at the ITCA event in Nice 2011 – this figure shows a 23% increase on ITCA 2009 in Barcelona.
Now in its 30th year some 135 International Exhibiting Companies were kept busy right from the opening of the show by over 1,500 Professionals directly linked to the On Board Service Industry from food and wine, to earphones and headrests and catering companies and logistics companies all of which are served by ITCA.
Following February’s Trade Show in Nice, see if you can find yourself in the following photos.
Welcome to the new appearance for the ITCA website and as such may be incomplete as we are developing it day by day.
There are many new features which will be implemented over the coming months – even more reason to keep revisiting the site on a regular basis.
If we missed anything please let us know!
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