21 BROUGHT TO YOU BY
21 BROUGHT TO YOU BY Bianca Meeuwissen General Manager, My World of Experiences, Andorra Driving new ideas for customers in Andorra, France and Spain Bianca Meeuwissen is General Manager of My World of Experiences, an agency based in Andorra. We started by asking her about her business and her experiences at ITB Berlin. My World of Experiences is focused on incoming tourism for Andorra, but also France and Spain. At ITB Berlin we were buying new ideas for Spain and France that I could combine with Andorra – and I was also looking at different overnight stay options in different places. What are the main trends you are seeing in terms of buyer demand? People are always looking for new options, which is not always easy, as Andorra, for example, is only 486sq kilometres in size, so I’ve been trying to reinvent myself for 25 years. Sometimes it’s a little difficult. Can you tell us about the formation earlier this year of Local Experts? We established Local Experts, which has been set-up by six likeminded businesses in different destinations. We all have one thing in common because we are all in love with our destinations, and we are all owners of our companies. After ITB Berlin, we will all share the business cards that we have gathered during the show. We are very much alike but all in different destinations – and it’s great fun. What was your experience of the speed networking event? Speed networking was good. I liked it and I made some nice contacts, because I’m also thinking that within My World of Experiences, one of my dreams is a World of Wellbeing. I’m a practitioner of reiki, I can massage and am a yoga teacher and I wanted to do something with that and at ITB Berlin I met some people that can help me with that part. What are the main benefits of being in the ITB Buyers Circle? I think it is an ideal place to work and rest and to be able to charge devices. It’s great to have refreshments and to be able to relax a little bit. The 15-minute massage made my day, but I could have done with some reflexology as well SPEED NETWORKING WAS GOOD. I LIKED IT AND I MADE SOME NICE CONTACTS Experiencing unforgettable moments and extraordinary adventures Stephan Reichelt is product sourcing team lead - mydays GmbH. ITB Berlin News asked him about his business and its main focus. Thanks to mydays and Jochen Schweizer, more than a million people can experience unforgettable moments and extraordinary adventures every year. The tour operator Hip Trips, WE EXPECT WELLNESS TOURISM TO GROW TWICE AS FAST AS THE USUAL SEGMENTS OVER THE NEXT FEW YEARS. the leisure community Spontacts, the gift expert Joidy, the ticketing software provider Regiondo and Jochen Schweizer Technology Solutions also belong to our group. What are the main trends you are seeing in terms of buyer demand? Three trends have become very clear: individualisation is increasingly coming to the fore, mini-holidays are experiencing an upswing and the relevance of wellness is increasing. When it comes to what people experience during their holiday, we expect wellness tourism to grow twice as fast as the usual segments over the next few years. What were you hoping to gain from this year’s ITB Berlin? Our focus at this year’s ITB was on building new relationships and strengthening existing ones. Our strategy is to further develop and expand our B2B MICE business. With our know-how, we want to position mydays Events as the expert for incentives, events and travel. How important was the speed dating organised at ITB for you? It’s a useful tool! It lets you make contact with as many people as possible in a short period of time. You can come home full of inspiration and fresh ideas. Why did you decide to join the ITB Berlin Buyers Circle? Thanks to the ITB Berlin Buyers Circle, we have access to 1,000 top buyers and key decision-makers from around the world. It means that we can immediately enter into concrete talks with the new contacts we’ve made during the speed dating event Stephan Reichelt Team lead Product Sourcing, mydays GmbH ITB BERLIN NEWS • Friday 15 th March 2019
