A review on the 16th Tehran tourism exhibition and some suggestions
The 16th Tehran tourism course was held and it seems that conditions are available to examine its strengths and weaknesses. After passing through the hard times of the corona virus and its terrible blows to the tourism body this year, the situation has changed in a different way, and internet restrictions, along with the spread of Iran-phobia on the other side of the borders and severe economic inflation, have brought the groups involved in tourism to the point of paralysis.
Farid Javaherzadeh, head of Iran’s Nature Tourism Scientific Association, said in a note that he provided to ISNA: “Today, the tourism industry needs realistic hope and excitement more than ever, and without a doubt, tourism exhibitions are considered a good opportunity to achieve this goal.” In general, participating in the exhibition has many benefits for businesses. Attending a trade show, big or small, gives companies a powerful tool to reach existing customers and meet new customers to build a trusted brand. But many businesses do not participate in exhibitions due to the costs of this work, despite the fact that participating in the exhibition is not a low-cost process, but like most forms of marketing, by adopting the right method, participating in the exhibition can be considered a very profitable option.
Regardless of whether this event is organized in a specialized or public or combined manner, the basic issue is that a successful exhibition must have functions for each group of its audience, and its success criteria should be determined based on performance in the field of those functions, and not just the audience community. The thing that was very prominent in this year’s exhibition is the lack of proper separation between expert visitors and the general public.
In such a way that the heavy crowding in the booths due to the colorful presence of people made it difficult for the experts and specialists to the point where the nature of the specialized exhibition was reduced to a tourism festival. Therefore, it is suggested that, like foreign exhibitions, the first 2 days should be reserved for specialized visits and the last days for the general public.
Branding is a large part of the concept of business success, especially in industries where trust and reputation play an important role. Attending a trade show is a great way to show your industry that your company is serious, reliable, and big enough to be able to attend trade shows even in dire economic times.
Exhibitions are basically formed to show new achievements in the right competitive atmosphere, few exhibitions in developed countries can be found that do not display updated technology. Due to the presence of all competing companies, specialized exhibitions are the arena for the unveiling of many products that remain hidden from the eyes of competitors throughout the year and where all the fans are present, in addition to the mass media, they are brought to the front of the competitors. Therefore, the exhibition is a place where small companies can join the ranks of the best by choosing the right strategy, and small businesses always try to keep a share of the market for themselves even in recession.
Traditionally, the participants in the tourism exhibition have pursued one of the goals of visualization, introduction, strengthening and stabilization of the brand, marketing or increasing sales. While the leading tourism exhibitions of the world have moved along with the developments of the world and today they have found various more productive and effective functions.
Obviously, in such an atmosphere, holding side meetings such as educational workshops and scientific and specialized courses with the presence of Iranian and foreign academic and academic elites is a great opportunity for tourism professionals to rely on current knowledge to improve their business success strategies in the future. To significantly increase the scientific level of those involved.
In this year’s exhibition, there was a lot of empty space for foreign experts and the presentation of their achievements to the Iranian audience. Non-registration of visitors and categorization of exhibition audience are essential issues. All specialists and experts who have visited major tourism exhibitions in the world know very well that it is mandatory to register people’s information and present a business card before entering the exhibition. This is mainly for the purpose of using a comprehensive system for networking and placing the names of people as exhibitors and participating experts together, and it can have countless functions in the fields of information, education, surveys, etc., which is completely felt in this exhibition. .
It is certain that if this advantage is used optimally and the country’s macro and national interests are taken into account in holding exhibitions along with the interests of the organizers in accordance with the current world standards, we can hope for many economic opportunities for tourism businesses and related industries in the country. will be.
Promoting innovation and creativity in the tourism industry is one of the other effective functions of exhibitions. In this regard, it is necessary to look at innovation centers, startups and scientific and research institutions as a special sector. In general, attracting the participation of academics and presenting the results of applied research and their innovations has not been considered in this exhibition. Although the presence of the Jihad University Tourism Research Institute was appreciated, it seems necessary to consider a dedicated space for displaying and introducing written and digital publications and research along with the introduction of specialized media in the field of tourism in future exhibitions.
The exhibition space is the best opportunity to introduce new concepts, trends and strategies in the body of the tourism industry, for example, the examples and standards of accessible tourism for the disabled and the disabled have not been shared with the general industry. While by designing an interactive and informative space, it is possible to display the infrastructures, conditions and supplies for the realization of this concept in a practical and operational way.
One of the other problems of the exhibition is the mismatch of the booths next to each other and the emphasis on the provincialization of many businesses. Although some pavilions were not a proper representation of their province’s capacities and they had some institutions with them just for the sake of sponsoring or providing for the expenses of the pavilion, which should be looked at with condescension, but on the other hand, the presence of some city pavilions and the prominence of their activities was worthy of consideration. In this exhibition, the cities that were usually hidden in the shadow of the name of the province found the opportunity to express their independent identity and introduce their capabilities, which can be pointed out to the booths of Ardakan and Bafaq cities next to Yazd.
The final point is that haste and lack of planning are two basic pests that can destroy any idea and plan and prevent the achievement of the goal. Therefore, it is necessary to make decisions, plan and provide timely information, monitor and independently evaluate the quality of holding the exhibition and its side events by conducting a survey and collecting the opinions, suggestions and criticisms of participants and visitors, which can pave the way for the success of this event in the coming years. .