New Deal Europe has kick started 2024 with another successful event in South East Europe. The Tourism and Travel Show Albania 2024, delivered in collaboration with Iceberg Exhibitions, took place last week in Tirana. The sold-out event featured a B2B marketplace with over 70 delegates, including 30 international buyers from the USA, UK, India and key European markets.
The event was followed by a 2 day fam trip taking in many of Albania’s highlights, organised in partnership with Alba Trip.
Robert Dee, Co-Director of New Deal Europe commented, ‘After our inaugural event in the region, and our first partnership with Iceberg Exhibitionsin 2022, we returned to the Tourism and Travel Show with a record number of international buyers, all very eager to do more business in Albania and the region. All the delegates at the b2b sessions had a full day schedule meaning around 1,000 meetings happened on the day. I was also delighted to be joined at the opening ceremony by the Minister of Tourism for Albania, Ms Mirela Kumbaro. Her support undoubtedly indicates the importance of this event for Albania.’
Enejda Sheku, MD of Iceberg Exhibitions said, ‘In the wake of Albania’s tourism boom in 2023, with over 10 million tourist visitors, this event has taken on added significance. Our collaboration with New Deal Europe truly delivers global connections for tourism businesses in the Balkan region, and we look forward to building on our already strong foundations to deliver more together in the future.’
Tine Murn the co-founder of NDE added, ‘This was our tenth event and third in the region, and we have an enormous demand for future events in other countries too. Our partners are firmly embracing the New Deal Europe way of doing events, and appreciate the quality of the businesses we bring together, and the importance of the topics we cover for them. This year in Albania we had a record number of buyers, and, importantly, we brought tour operators from the US and UK who are leaders in their field. What’s more, we are also almost sold out for our flagship event, The NDE Marketplace and Forum, on 16th April in London. I truly believe that the future in travel lies in smaller, regionally orientated events like ours.’
Post event networking in the eclectic Blloku district of Tirana.
All international buyers had an amazing opportunity to meet and network with local partners and discover the vibrant culinary and entertainment scene of Tirana, as well as experience the major tourism sites of the country. The list of attendees included well-known brands such as Tauck, Martin Randall Travel, G Touring, G Adventures, Gate 1 Travel, and Travelzoo.
Stephen Shaw, Product Director of G Touring, praised the event saying, ‘The Tourism and Travel Show Albania put me in touch with professionals from the incoming travel industry, and the meetings I had were both informative and exciting.’ He last visited Albania ten years ago and stated, ‘Albania has changed immeasurably and this country really is gearing up for tourism’. From the US, Brenda MacKellar, Product Director of Tauck, said she had had ‘A wonderful experience in Albania’ adding, ‘I can’t wait to see how it grows’.