Postscript for Travex: It was a success

(Above) Booths set up at the BRIDEX Centre in Jerudong during the Travex component of the Asean Tourism Forum. Pictures: BT file

THE just-concluded Asean Tourism Forum helped put a spotlight on Brunei and its potential as a tourist destination.

Both the meetings and the tourism market component of the forum were hailed a success in helping boost tourism in the region.

Darren Ng, managing director of TTG Asia Media Pte Ltd, the organiser of the Travel Exchange (Travex) phase of the forum, touted Travex for successfully bringing tourism buyers and sellers and facilitating deals that would ensure more visitors to Asean countries.

Ng talks to The Brunei Times on the preparations TTG did on the lead-up to Travex and the challenges TTG faced.

BT: Overall, what do you think about Travex this year? Were there any challenges and what will be done in the future?

I would say that generally the show went well and in terms of what we can do in the future, there are a couple of things. For every event, we always learn something new, the learning process is an ongoing one.

In order for us to make the event even better, we never just sit on our laurel so to speak. For instance this year, we got all the buyers to sit on one side and all the sellers to sit on the other during the briefing so that during the next session, it will be easier. Although this sounds like a small thing, it is something new that we’ve introduced this year and have never done before, so we’ll see what are the things that we can introduce the make the show even better because each destination, each venue, is unique on its own way. Therefore, we also have to see what the venue can provide so that we can adjust in terms of the setting.

As for the challenges, each venue has its own challenges and is quite different.

In general, my opinion and based on the feedback was that it went very very well. The sellers were particularly happy with the quality of the buyers and I think the buyers were also generally happy with the quality of the sellers as well.

There were a lot of deals made, and I think the host committee of ATF 2010 and team from Brunei Tourism has done a tremendous job in making this event a success. The various contributions from various committee and sub-committees have worked together well.

I’m also glad to know that the media like The Brunei Times has actively participated in this show and given it coverage. There was a lot of focus and emphasis on this event and I think the reporting team has done a tremendous job.

Generally. I was very pleased overall but there were minor challenges for sure and there will always be some.

BT: How does Travex work, can you give a brief idea on the concept of the exchange?

It’s like an exhibition, but strictly for business-to-business (B2B) (deals) so it’s trade buyers and sellers. How it works is that before the buyers and the sellers arrive in Brunei, we would have already helped them to arrange up to about 60 per cent of their appointments for two days. These business sessions would give them 16 slots per day of 20 minutes per slot of business discussions. We have a ‘perfect match’ system where buyer’s and seller’s request are appointed to meet each other.

BT: So what about the remainder 40 per cent of their appointments?

Ng: The balance of the appointments, 12 to 13 will still be empty. This is where the buyers are seated down and all the sellers would come and request for the balance of their blank appointments. This session is just asking for appointments, not even business discussions, because business discussion will only take place later and what happens after this, is that we also reverse the slots by getting the exhibitors to go back to the booth and the next session begins where the buyers ask for sellers’ balance of their appointments.

So it becomes the preferred buyers wanting to see sellers and sellers wanting to see buyers which are left for them to choose. If they wish to add additional appointments its up to them, for example, during networking functions, working lunches, or during night functions, they can meet more people amongst the trade themselves. Debbie Too and Goh De No The Brunei Times

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