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Travel trade shows: Exploratory study of

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Travel trade shows: exploratory study of

exhibitors perceptions
Ulku Yuksel and Ranjit Voola
Discipline of Marketing, Faculty of Economics & Business, School of Business, The University of Sydney, Sydney, Australia
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the motivations for participating in international trade shows and perceptions of effectiveness
and challenges faced by exhibiting firms.
Design/methodology/approach A multiple-methodology approach is adopted. Initially, interviews are conducted with travel trade exhibitors.
These then serve as a foundation for a survey of senior tourism managers.
Findings Exhibitors perceive efficient and effective products/services being displayed on the stand as the central factor for success. The key
motivation for participating in travel trade shows is to improve relationships with customers. The primary motivation in participating in specific travel
trade shows was influenced by the reputation of the fair, and the key challenge relates to following up leads from the fair.
Research limitations/implications As the study emphasises tourism and travel, generalising to other trade shows must be done with caution.
Practical implications The intangible and simultaneous nature of the offering emphasises empathy, responsiveness and reliability of the staff and
will affect visitors perceived service quality of the interaction. Furthermore, an explanation of the various motivations may aid exhibitors in their
objectives for participating in travel trade shows.
Originality/value Although the tourism industry, and consequently travel trade shows, are booming, little research examines the motivations and
effectiveness of travel trade from the exhibitors perspective. Furthermore, the services nature of travel trade shows and its effects on marketing travel
trade shows have seen only limited investigation.
Keywords Tourism, Hospitality services, Trade fairs
Paper type Research paper

potential customers via display formation, illustrative

exhibits, brochures, and other print materials and special
deals or packages and services (Cavanaugh, 1976; Kerin and
Cron, 1987; Konikow, 1983).
Despite these examinations, several authors have argued
that there is a general lack of research in the trade show
research domain (e.g. Blythe, 2000; Hansen, 2004; Smith
et al., 2004; Gopalakrishna et al., 1995). In recent years, due
to the effects of globalization and subsequent increases in
tourism activities the tourism industry including travel trade
shows have experienced significant growth. Travel trade
shows and in particular international trade shows are a
popular medium to promote tourism, travel and hospitality
services. Although, some articles examine trade shows in the
tourism industry (e.g. Cleverdon, 2001; Fayos-Sola et al.,
1994; Makens and Gee, 1987; Telfer, 1999), research
investigating the motivations for participating in
international trade shows and the effectiveness of the trade
shows has been scarce (Seringhaus and Rosson, 2001; Smith
et al., 2003). However, in light of the distinctly services nature
of international travel trade shows and their many benefits
including contacting customers at a lower costs as opposed to
sales calls or advertising (Shipley and Wong, 1993), testing
the acceptability and marketability of the products,
understanding international competitors and investigating
channel of distribution (Bello and Barksdale, 1986; Goodsell,
1996), the lack of research in travel trade shows is surprising.

Introduction
Trade shows are an integral part of the marketing strategy for
many products and services, especially in industrial/
organisational markets (Dekimpe et al., 1997). Indeed, trade
shows are the second most important promotional factor
influencing buying decisions of industrial purchases, after
personal selling (Herbig et al., 1997a, b). Spending on trade
shows was forecasted to increase by 6.2 per cent or $10.31bn
in 2006 and for the first time the expenditure is projected to
be greater than business-to-business (B2B) magazine
spending in 2009 (Lanigan, 2006). Not surprisingly,
marketing scholars have examined various aspects of trade
shows, including advantages to exhibitors (Herbig et al.,
1998), generating product awareness and interest
(Gopalakrishna et al., 1995), show selection (Kijewski et al.,
1993), budgeting (Lilien, 1983), selling strategies (Tanner,
1994), the effectiveness of trade shows (Berne and GarciaUceda, 2007; Li, 2007), facilitating the customer in their
buying process and effects on financial performance (e.g.
Seringhaus and Rosson, 2001), motivations (OHara, 1993;
OHara and Herbig, 1993; Carman, 1968; Dekimpe et al.,
1997; Gopalakrishna et al., 1995; Gopalakrishna and Lilien,
1995; Kerin and Cron, 1987), and communicating to
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available at
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Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

25/4 (2010) 293 300
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited [ISSN 0885-8624]
[DOI 10.1108/08858621011038252]

Received: October 2007

Revised: January 2008
Accepted: October 2008

293

Travel trade shows: exploratory study of exhibitors perceptions

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Ulku Yuksel and Ranjit Voola

Volume 25 Number 4 2010 293 300

To this end, the goal of this article is to understand the

motivations and evaluations of travel trade effectiveness
specific to international travel trade shows. The article is
structured as follows: First, a literature review highlighting the
differences between product and services based trade shows
are discussed. Second, the multi-methodology adopted is
explained. Third, descriptive findings (i.e., motivations,
success factors and challenges) relating to international
travel trade shows from exhibitors perspectives are
discussed. Lastly, implications and conclusions are presented.

are high in experience qualities (Lovelock et al., 2007) both

for visitors and for exhibitors.
Consumer evaluation framework explains the differences in
the evaluation process of consumers. These different
evaluation processes depend on the characteristics (i.e.
qualities) of the product or service in question. A search
quality is a physical product-specific quality and means that
the consumer is fully able to evaluate the product prior to
purchase, such as style of furniture (Stigler, 1961).
Experience qualities, on the contrary, are mostly associated
with services as the consumer can evaluate the quality of the
service received only after the purchase and consumption
(Nelson, 1970, 1974). A third quality is called credence
quality and represents services which cannot be easily
evaluated even after the purchase and consumption, such as
the role of a lawyer during a lawsuit, the success of a surgery,
the value and benefits received from a lecture(r), or auto
repair. These examples involve some degree of faith in the
service provider (Darby and Karni, 1973). As services are
characterised by experience and credence qualities, consumer
evaluation process vary in comparison to tangible products
that are high on search qualities (Smith and Bush, 2000).
Because services are more difficult to evaluate, there will be
more risks and uncertainty involved from consumers
perspectives. The more the consumers perceived risk prior
to consumption, the more the consumers need for further
information (Murray, 1991; Guseman, 1981; Murray and
Schlacter, 1990; Smith and Bush, 2000) which will enhance
the significance of trade fairs as an excellent and vivid venue
for first-hand pre-purchase information search and source.
The experience and credence qualities together with the
underlying service characteristics signify the importance of
travel trade fairs both for visitors and exhibitors. The former
operates in a business-to-customer (B2C) context in which
customers and consumers visit the organised travel trade fair
and shop around the stands of various exhibitors (travel
organisers). The latter represents a B2B market relationship
between the customer of the trade fair organisation (i.e. the
exhibitor, such as a hotel, tour operator, airline, destination
management company, incentive house, and so forth) and the
trade fair organisation company. The customer in this context
buys a stand (booth) from the organiser to display its services
to its potential customers (e.g. outbound tour operators) or
consumers (end consumers who personally intend to come
and visit the foreign country as a tourist). Specifically, the
complexity of international travel trade shows is further
highlighted due to the multiple stakeholders, including travel
trade organisers and travel trade participants (i.e. exhibitors).
There are multiple layers of markets and business
relationships involved in the context of trade fairs. The first
one is the travel trade organisers relationship with participant
firms as exhibitors (B2B). The organisations name
(reputation), quality, venue, invited visitors list, other
exhibitors, and additional quality factors in relation to the
exhibition, play an important role in participant firms
attendance as an exhibitor; including exhibition installations,
decorations, product displays in the stand, maintenance, and
removals. Hence, the exhibitor has to examine both their
promotional strategy and the quality of the fair. This will
allow for a better understanding of how to allocate sparse
promotional budget and the limited budget needs to be
distributed wisely among various promotional tools (i.e.
choosing the best quality fairs). The second layer of

Uniqueness of travel trade shows

Marketing of services has become critical in developed
countries as they move away from manufacturing industries to
emphasise value-adding industries. Service industries
represent 80 per cent of developed economies gross
national product. A historical examination of the key figures
shows that in 1929, 55 per cent of the working population
were employed in the service sector in the USA, and services
generated about 54 per cent of GDP in 1948. In 2003,
services represented 81 per cent of GDP and 81 per cent of
employment in the USA. It is envisaged that in the near
future, the services industry will be the source of 90-95 per
cent of all new jobs in developed countries. Increasingly, this
trend is evident in developed countries, where they constitute
up to 50 per cent of the GDP (Lovelock et al., 2007; Zeithaml
et al., 2006).
Tourism has emerged as a leading services sector worldwide
and in recent years has significantly boosted international
trade. In many countries, tourism is a significant vehicle for
economic progress that generates employment, foreign
exchange, tax revenues, and contributes to poverty
alleviation (Yuksel and Yuksel, 2006). In fact, tourism is the
worlds fastest growing industry and, it is expected to be the
worlds largest industry by 2010, after agriculture.
Furthermore, it provides direct or indirect employment for
231 million people, or in every ten workers (Yuksel and
Yuksel, 2002). Hence, promoting tourism is a critical issue for
both countries and firms (Telfer, 1999). One of the key
promotional tools that tourism, travel and hospitality services
firms use to enhance tourism activities involves participating
in travel trade shows to exhibit, advertise and market their
services.
Travel trade shows differ in many ways from other trade
shows, particularly from other business trade shows
emphasising products (Bello and Barczak, 1990; Herbig
et al., 1996, 1997) primarily due to the intangible nature of
services (Pizam, 1990; Telfer, 1999; Yuksel and Voola, 2006).
Service firms possess exceptional features (Matthyssens and
Koen, 1998; Cooper and Jackson, 1988) that require a
different approach to marketing strategy, particularly in the
context of the promotion strategy (Yuksel and Mermod,
2004). Services are distinct due to their intangibility (i.e. no
physical existence), heterogeneity or non-standardisation (i.e.
varying from transaction to transaction which makes them
always different), simultaneous consumption (i.e. inseparable
from production and consumption), and their perishability
(i.e. they are to be consumed during production as they
cannot be preserved) (Anderson et al., 1997; Bolton and Alba,
2006; Lovelock et al., 2007; Nijssen et al., 2006; Zeithaml
et al., 2006). These fundamental service characteristics are
argued to affect international travel trade shows in that they
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Travel trade shows: exploratory study of exhibitors perceptions

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Ulku Yuksel and Ranjit Voola

Volume 25 Number 4 2010 293 300

Methodology

relationship revolves around participant firms (exhibitors)

relations to other travel organizers (retailers) who are visitors
of the fair and buy services in order to resell them to their own
customers (B2B). A third level of business relationship of
services firms is between the exhibitors. For example, a tour
operator as an exhibitor of a stand may visit another exhibitor
of another stand in the same fair, say an airline company of a
specific destination to book its travel business, or a hotel may
make new business deals with a new tour operator or with an
airline company to accommodate their stop-over passengers
or overnight crew. These examples highlight that a buyerseller relationship or a marketing function occurs. Another
level of relationship may ensue, for example, between
investors, construction firms, headhunters and hotel
management companies. Finally, the last group of buyers
may represent end-consumers who would visit exhibitors
stands to decide on their travel destination for next year
(B2C). Specifically, this represents a B2C context where
exhibitors may sell some of their services directly to
individuals who come and buy these services for their
personal consumption. In general, the majority of open days
for most travel trade shows are just for professionals (B2B)
during the exhibition; however, sometimes the last day targets
individual consumers.
Not only the experience and credence qualities of the
services but also the very nature of services highlight the
difficulty in planning for a travel trade fair. Firstly, as there are
no tangible elements to display by the exhibitors, the
representatives of the exhibitor travel firms are more
qualified than in fairs for physical products where the visitor
can see and touch the product to be sold. Therefore, hotels,
airlines, travel agencies, and tour operators cannot employ a
public relations officer or an outsourced workforce to man the
stand. The staff manning the travel trade stands has to be very
qualified and extremely knowledgeable about the service (i.e.
sales managers, directors, general managers and even owners
(for smaller firms) and have the authority to book and sell,
and possess pricing authority. Hence, excellence in
communication, by the stand staff is essential (OHara and
Herbig, 1993). Second, the heterogeneity of the services
further emphasises qualified and experienced staff as the
superiority, reliability, consistency and stability of the service
communicated should be at a very high level of quality
(Yuksel, 2002). Therefore, travel trade exhibitors must ensure
consistency in the delivery of quality, image and be able to
manage fluctuating demands with full price authority, and
design and package (bundling) services as per the retailers
request in real time. Thirdly, the simultaneity and
inseparability of production and consumption of trade
shows mandates top managers to exhibit ownership and
decision making power. For example, the interactions require
decentralized decision making and the involvement of the
retailer to the terms and conditions of the sale. Lastly, the
perishability of services makes it vital for the exhibitors to
close sale during travel trades as there may be fewer
opportunities to travel and make international sales calls.
Selling a tourism service immediately is paramount as they
cannot be held in inventory and stored to be sold at a later
stage. All these features of travel trades highlight the
distinctive nature and complexity of services marketing.
These unique features of travel trade shows may impact on
the motivations and perceptions of effectiveness of travel trade
shows.

A multiple methodology is applied due to the paucity of

understanding in the context of international trade shows. A
multi-method approach is deemed most suitable to explore
the international travel trade in order to take advantage of the
many synergies that are possible with the use of both positivist
and interpretive approaches (McQuarrie and Mick, 1992).
Specifically, this project is initially exploratory in nature in
order to obtain a deeper insight into the major themes related
to motivation factors of the target firms. These interviews are
the basis for an exploratory quantitative study of various
issues relating to travel trade.
Initially 14 interviews were conducted with executives of
travel trade exhibitors who had previously participated in
travel trade shows. The primary aim was to obtain key themes
and then to develop questions relevant to international travel
trade shows. The first step in the interview process was to
develop an interview guide template (McCracken, 1988) to
facilitate the use of semi-structured interviews. We adhered to
Yins (2003) suggestion relating to a more detailed structure
when interview times are constrained. Therefore, the template
included a detailed set of questions derived from the case
study protocol. Following its development this template was
reviewed by an academic and a practitioner with experience in
tourism to determine whether it was clear and
comprehensible. The interviews were analysed manually,
where the primary goal was to highlight key themes by
highlighting patterns. The data analysis techniques followed
techniques highlighted by Miles and Huberman (1994),
Creswell (1998) and Strauss and Corbin (1998). Various
forms of coding (i.e. open and axial coding) were used. For
example, each of the key themes was coded and then
segmented into different categories (i.e. open coding). These
categories included:
.
key success factor in promoting a destination country;
.
key success factors in promoting a destination country at a
trade show;
.
motivations for participating in international travel trade
fairs;
.
motivations for participating in a specific travel trade
show; and
.
challenges with international travel trade fairs.
Furthermore, memoing was extensively used and it formed
the basis for the adopted coding strategies.
The interviews were scrutinised and questions for
understanding the motivations, challenges and success
factors were developed by examining and memoing key
themes based on axial coding. The resultant draft survey was
then subjected to a pre-test from a sample of tourism firms.
An effort was made to obtain a cross-section of tourism firms
(e.g. hospitality, tour operators, destination management
organizations and airlines). Eight responses provided the basis
for refining the measures and making some changes to the
format of the questionnaire. The revised questionnaires were
sent to senior managers of the tourism firms as exhibitors (e.g.
hotels, hotel chains, tour operators, travel agencies, incentive
houses, and destination management companies). These
respondents were valid key informants as they were the key
decision makers in the context of participating in a travel
trade show. The managers were asked to indicate their degree
of agreement with the statements measured by a five-point
Likert scale (1 strongly disagree and 5 strongly agree).
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Travel trade shows: exploratory study of exhibitors perceptions

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Ulku Yuksel and Ranjit Voola

Volume 25 Number 4 2010 293 300

The final analysis including the descriptive analysis is based

on responses from 36 tourism firm managers.

Table II The most important activities for the success of the

international promotion of a destination country in an international
travel trade fair

Findings

To experience a successful travel trade fair you should . . .

Key success factors in promoting a destination country

Table I illustrates the success factors relating to the
international promotion of a destination country. The
results indicate that participants perceive having sales office
representation in the target markets (countries) and providing
effective and efficient information as key success factors in
promoting a country. Public relations (PR) and sales
promotions activities, such as allocating, and distributing
show videos, films, photographs, pictures and brochures
(promotional printed and/or shot materials) were rated as the
second most important success factor, followed by lobbying
activities for the destination country. These activities may be
performed through tourism attaches of the destination
country, by collaboration with other firms, or by their
representatives (particularly by the sales offices located in the
target markets). Personal selling activities, such as, pursuing
road-shows with other members in the travel network to target
markets (countries), and sponsoring and arranging
entertainments are equally weighted and were ranked
fourth, whilst pursuing individual sales calls in different
target markets (countries) was ranked fifth. The least
important factors are workshops, advertising and general PR
activities (other than the ones revealed during the exhibition)
directed to target markets.

. . . have efficient and effective products/services exposed/

displayed on the stand
. . . have very professional and trained stand staff
. . . have efficient and effective printed materials
(brochures, photos, etc.)
. . . have an appealing expose of your stand (stand
decoration)
. . . have effective promotional items/souvenirs, such as
pens and bags (i.e. sales promotion materials)
Others
Overall average

4.4
3.6
1.1
1.9
3.33

Motivations for participating in international travel

trade fairs
Table III shows participant firms broad goals in participating
in international travel trade fairs. The results indicate that the
most important motivations are to improve relationships with
customers and to understand their requirements, to influence
demand (persuasion) via personalised and direct
communication, and to create and/or maintain a product/
service/country image. A second group of motivations relate
to maintaining an innovative business structure and strategy,
to gain competitive advantage (improve firms capabilities),
and to introduce and promote their products/services. The
other motivations include identifying new distribution
channels (contacts, such as vendors, sellers, wholesalers,
retailers, etc.), tracking new trends in the sector, and receiving
information, especially on highly qualified (outsourced)
services such as consulting and technological assistance (i.e.
make cost comparisons). The least important motivations
include learning about supporting industries (i.e. new
suppliers), making direct sales at the fair and conducting
business alliances research (contacts for business
associations). Lastly, firms are not motivated by human
resources and opportunities for financial investment.

Table I The most important promotional activities for the success of

the international promotion of a destination country

. . . have sales office representation in the target markets

(countries)
. . . provide effective and efficient information
. . . allocate, distribute show videos, films, photographs,
pictures and brochures (promotional printed and/or shot
materials)
. . . do lobbying activities
. . . pursue road shows with other members in your travel
network to target markets (countries)
. . . sponsor and arrange entertainments
. . . pursue individual sales calls in different target markets
(countries)
. . . participate in travel trade fairs, congresses, and
workshops
. . . Advertise and pursue PR activities directed to target
markets (countries)
Others
Overall average

4.6
4.4

suggest that exhibitors value efficient and effective products/

services displayed on the stand as the most important factor
for success. That is, they believe in the significance of the
product(s) itself. In other words, if the property, product,
packages are appealing, there is a higher likelihood of success.
The second significant and equally important factors relate to
the quality of staff manning the stand (i.e. having very
professional and trained stand staff), and effective printed
materials (i.e. brochures, photos, etc.). The other issues of
importance are the decoration and design of the stand (having
an appealing appearance of the stand) and effective
promotional items/souvenirs, such as pens, bags, etc. (sales
promotions materials).

Key success factors in promoting a destination country

at a trade show
Table II deals with the promotional tools and activities within
an international trade show. Here the participant firms exhibit
their views on strategies before, during, and after a trade fair
in the context of promoting a destination country. The results

For a countrys successful promotion and sales in terms of

tourism, it is very important that you . . .

Mean

Mean
4.9
4.9

4.8
4.3
3.9
3.9
3.8

Motivations for participating in a specific travel trade

show
Table IV illustrates the factors affecting participation decision
in a particular international trade show. The first group of
motivations include reputation of the fair, the profile of the
visitors, whether the fair fits the firms (marketing) objectives,

3.0
2.5
0.3
3.63

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Travel trade shows: exploratory study of exhibitors perceptions

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Ulku Yuksel and Ranjit Voola

Volume 25 Number 4 2010 293 300

Table III Firms main goals in participating in international travel trade

fairs

Table IV Factors affecting participation in an international travel trade

show

Firms main goals in participating in international travel

trade fairs are . . .

Our decision in participating in an international travel

trade fair depends on . . .

. . . to improve relationships with customers and to find out

their requirements
. . . to influence demand (persuasion) via personalised and
direct communication
. . . to create and/or maintain a product/service/country
image
. . . to maintain an innovative business structure, and
strategy
. . . to gain competitive advantage (improve firms
capabilities)
. . . to gain and maintain prestige we kind of have to
participate in important fairs!
. . . to introduce and promote our products/services
. . . to find new distribution channels (contacts such as
vendors, sellers, wholesalers, retailers, etc.)
. . . to track new trends in the sector
. . . to gather information on the competition (rivalry)
. . . to receive information, especially on highly qualified
(outsourced) services, such as consulting and technological
assistance (i.e. make cost comparisons)
. . . to learn more on related and supporting industry
(i.e. new suppliers)
. . . to make direct sales at the fair (results in sales at the
fair)
. . . to do business alliances research (contacts for business
associations)
. . . to receive human resources capital (e.g. new employees)
. . . to contact senior/top executive officers in the sector
. . . to find out information from private investors on
financial issues
Overall average

Mean

. . . the reputation of the fair

. . . the profile of the visitors
. . . whether the fair fits our firms (marketing) objectives
. . . our competition attending the fair
. . . the past performances of the fair
. . . the cost of the fair to our company (budget)
. . . the countries participating in the fair and the number of
participating companies
. . . the quality and the variety of the services provided by
the organising company
. . . whether we have enough trained representatives for
our stand at the fair
. . . the insurance and security arrangements of the fair
. . . whether we have enough and appropriate promotional
material
. . . the place (country, city) and the date of the fair
. . . the firm that is organising the fair
Other issues
Overall average

5.0
4.8
4.7
4.5
4.5
4.4
3.2
3.0
2.3
2.2

Mean
4.9
4.7
4.6
4.1
3.9
3.4
2.2
2.0
1.8
1.6
1.5
1.3
0.3
2.79
2.66

1.8
1.7

Table V Challenges with an international travel trade fair

1.4

In relation to fairs, we face troubles related to . . .

. . . following up the contacts made at the fair
. . . performance evaluation of the fair
. . . market research (contacting customers beforehand,
etc.)
. . . the exact goals for participating in the fair
. . . cost of the fair
. . . customer records at our stand
. . . finding any top management executives (decision
makers) at others stands
. . . receiving efficient governmental support
. . . location of our stand
. . . finding enough qualified staff to attend the fair and be
present at our stand
. . . design and decoration of our stand (not an interesting
and attractive stand)
. . . limited services offered by our embassies (commercial
attaches, etc.) in the countries where fairs take place
. . . bureaucracy (red tape)
. . . direction and definition of target markets
Others
Overall average

1.3
1.2
1.1
1.0
2.83

competition attending the fair, and past performances The

second significant group of motivators includes the cost of the
fair to the company (budget), other firms participating in the
fair, and number of participating companies. The least
important motivations include; quality and variety of the
services provided by the organising company, whether the
participant firms have enough trained representatives for their
stand, insurance and security arrangements and whether the
firms have enough and appropriate promotional material, and
finally the location i.e. the place (country, city) and the
date of the fair.
Challenges with international travel trade fairs
Table V highlights that the main challenge that participants
faced related to following up the contacts made in the fair,
conducting performance evaluation of the fair (Kare, 2004;
Carmen and Garca-Uceda, 2008; Li, 2007; Wilkinson and
Brouthers, 2006), carrying out market research (i.e.
contacting customers beforehand), articulating goals for
participating in a fair, managing the cost of the fair, and
holding customer records at stands. An interesting
observation is that most of the prior issues are internal and
therefore more controllable. Furthermore, other issues that

Mean
4.2
3.9
3.8
3.7
3.4
3.1
2.2
2.1
2.0
1.8
1.5
1.5
1.4
1.2
1.1
2.46

were not seen be major challenges include receiving efficient

governmental support, location of the stand, finding qualified
staff to attend the fair and be present at the stand, and
managing the design and decoration of the stand. The
following were not seen as major challenges: limited services
offered by the embassies (commercial attaches, etc.) located
in the countries where fairs take place, bureaucracy (red
tape), and the definition of the target markets.
297

Travel trade shows: exploratory study of exhibitors perceptions

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Ulku Yuksel and Ranjit Voola

Volume 25 Number 4 2010 293 300

Discussion and implications

important to have an effective strategy for displaying products

and services. Secondly, the staff manning the stand are
crucial. For example, the intangibility and the simultaneous
nature of the offering emphasises the characteristics of
empathy, responsiveness and reliability of the staff. These
issues will impact on the visitors perceived service quality of
the interaction. Thirdly, the results provide an indication of
the key motivations that exhibitor firms should take into
consideration while deciding on whether to participate in a
show, including such factors as improving relationships with
customers and influencing demand.
There are several limitations inherent in this research the
sample size for the quantitative survey is relatively small and
the research emphasises travel, and therefore generalising to
travel trade shows and to other trade shows must be made
with caution. Due to the prominence of international trade
shows in the B2B promotion mix, there are ample
opportunities to research various trade shows and
understand whether the motivations, challenges and
evaluations of trade shows differ depending on the industry
and country.

Although trade shows are predicted to overtake B2B magazine

spending in 2010, the motivations of exhibitors, the
effectiveness of trade shows (Kare, 2004; Carmen and
Garca-Uceda, 2008; Li, 2007; Wilkinson and Brouthers,
2006) and the challenges facing exhibitors are under
researched (e.g. Blythe, 2000; Hansen, 2004; Smith et al.,
2004;Gopalakrishna et al., 1995). Specifically, as the tourism
industry experiences exponential growth worldwide, firms
have increasingly adopted participation in international travel
trade shows as a critical marketing strategy. However, there is
scant literature examining travel trade shows. Furthermore,
the inherent services nature of travel trade shows highlights
several unique features (e.g. intangibility, perishability,
inseparability) that marketers need to contend with when
deciding to adopt trade shows as part of their promotion
strategy. Consequently, this article contributes to the trade
show literature, in the specific context of the motivations,
challenges and perceptions of international travel trade show
exhibitors.
A multiple methodology was used, in which interviews were
initially conducted with 14 travel trade exhibitors to obtain
key themes were conducted. This formed the basis for the
survey, which was sent to 36 senior managers of the tourism
firms. The primary results are as follows:
.
The most important factor for promotion of international
travel firms is to have sales office representation in the
target markets (countries) and provide effective and
efficient information, while the least important factor is
to advertise and pursue PR activities directed to target
markets (countries).
.
Exhibitors perceive efficient and effective products/
services being displayed on the stand as the most central
factor for the success. Effective promotional items/
souvenirs, such as pens and bags (i.e. sales promotion
materials), was considered the least important factor
affecting success.
.
Broadly, the key motivation for participating in the
promotional strategy of travel trade shows was to improve
relationships with customers and to understand their
requirements, while the least important motivation was to
obtain information from private investors on financial
issues.
.
The primary motive in participating in a specific travel
trade shows was dependent on the reputation of the fair,
while the firm that organising the fair was the least
important motivation.
.
The key challenge faced was following up contacts made
at the fair, while the definition of target markets was not
considered to be a great challenge.

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Corresponding author
Ulku Yuksel can be contacted at: u.yuksel@econ.usyd.edu.au

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