The high-profile launch of Reed Travel Exhibitions’ first U.S. conference—the Americas Incentive Business Travel & Meetings Exhibition—will be delayed at least a year, according to RTE Meetings and Incentive Events Group Exhibition Director Paul Kennedy. Kennedy made the announcement February 25 at the company’s Asia-Pacific Incentives and Meetings Expo in Australia, citing the global economy as the reason for the cancellation.
The inaugural AIBTM had been scheduled for June 29 to July 1, 2010, at the Baltimore Convention Center and was expecting to attract more than 400 VIP buyers and 250 exhibitors.
“We have decided to delay the launch until 2011 or 2012 because of the macroeconomic climate," Kennedy told the Australian meetings magazine Conference & Incentive Travel. "We look forward to staging this event in Baltimore, but later. I am very sure about the health of the meetings industry, and I am very sure about the health of our portfolio, but this would be a bad time for such a major investment."