Marleen Rompen: 'Holiday fair is for everyone'
Continue to amaze, offer experience and innovate. According to Marleen Rompen, trade fair manager (ad interim) of Vakantiebeurs, these are the three starting points for a successful fair that is also future-proof. 'Nothing beats being able to look each other in the eye live.
'It's allowed again'. This cry has been heard often since the lifting of corona restrictions in spring 2022, but it is especially true for the upcoming Holiday Fair and the preceding Trade Day.
At the last physical Vakantiebeurs, in January 2020 when the 50th anniversary of Vakantiebeurs was also celebrated, 101,000 visitors came to the Royal Jaarbeurs in Utrecht. There were another 12,200 visitors on the Trade Day. After three years, and an interim virtual edition that did not really sell out, it may happen again. On Wednesday 11 January, there will be the well-known Vakdag, one of the B2B moments for networking. A day later, the fair opens to consumers, who can experience holiday pre-fun until Sunday 15 January. Not to mention the Travel Congress on the Tuesday before.
Asked how many visitors she expects in January, Marleen Rompen replied: 'We see at our other consumer fairs that visitor numbers are returning to 2019 levels. I hope this trend continues at Vakantiebeurs. Everyone is looking forward to the Trade Day, which is really an 'event for us' in the industry, for travel professionals among themselves. Via social media, we see an upward trend in interest in the Vakantiebeurs. People want to go to a real trade fair again, even though research by NBTC and others shows that many people will book their holidays last minute.'
Marleen Rompen, exhibition manager (a.i.) of Vakantiebeurs.
Marleen Rompen: 'Holiday fair is for everyone'
