The domestic travel industry has fully embraced the Best of Britain & Ireland Travel Trade Forum with over 2,000 delegates already pre-registered for the event, which takes place at London�s ExCeL on 26 & 27 March 2009.

Registration for the event is open to travel industry professionals, group travel organisers, travel agents and corporate buyers of travel products and services.

Many of the confirmed delegates have already taken advantage of the Personal Agenda Planner, which became live on 5 January 2009. In the first three days since its launch, up to 500 meeting requests were made through the innovative schedule planner.

The Personal Agenda Planner is available to registered trade and press visitors to help structure their appointments with exhibitors and trade professionals, and pre-book spaces on the seminar and workshops programme. Networking areas tailored to different trade sectors have been designed to enhance the trade-friendly format of the event and will enable visitors to make the most of their time at the Best of Britain & Ireland Travel Trade Forum.

Rob Mackenzie, Co-Managing Director of Best of Britain & Ireland Events, commented:

�To have 2,000 trade delegates already pre-registered in less than a week is fantastic and really confirms the Best of Britain & Ireland Travel Trade Forum�s place at the must-attend domestic tourism event for both exhibitors and delegates in 2009.

�We�re particularly delighted that up to 500 meetings were requested via the Personal Agenda Planner within just three days of it going live. This demonstrates that this unique development is a really welcome addition for trade visitors who are keen to maximise all the networking and business opportunities that the show presents, ensuring they get real value out of their participation at the show.�

The March event will deliver over 400 exhibitors and 3,000 domestic and overseas buyers with real purchasing power. The two day forum is free to attend for delegates and promises to be an important trading opportunity and innovative successor to the British Travel Trade Fair. Qualified trade professionals will benefit from the opportunity to network with top industry delegates, hold meetings with key suppliers and create fresh contacts at a time when tourism businesses are looking at preparations for another holiday season. A series of seminars and workshops relevant to all areas of the industry will be available for registered trade and will tackle some of the issues surrounding the economic climate and its impact on domestic tourism. With nearly 200 exhibitors already signed up to Best of Britain & Ireland, the forum has established itself as a must-visit domestic travel event. Organised in partnership with VisitBritain, the event has the support of VisitEngland, VisitScotland, Tourism Ireland and VisitWales, with signed exhibitors including The National Trust, The Tourism Society, English Heritage, Haven Holidays, in addition to major regional tourist boards and a number of leading hotel groups such as Best Western, Radisson Edwardian and Classic British Hotels. Registered trade visitors will receive admittance to the Best of Britain & Ireland consumer event on 28-29 March 2009 at no extra charge. Members of the public will not be permitted access to the Travel Trade Forum on 26-27 March 2009. To register for the event visit www.britainandirelandevent.co.uk/registration, email info@bobevents.co.uk or call +44 (0) 1883 333 195. Once registered, trade and media visitors should visit:: www.britainandirelandevent.co.uk/tradevisitors/membersloginarea to download the Personal Agenda Planner.

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Media requiring further information should contact Liz Warburton or Chloe Handy at Fleishman-Hillard: 0207 306 9000 elizabeth.warburton@fleishmaneurope.com / chloe.handy@fleishmaneurope.com

Media wishing to register for attendance to the show should email bobi@fleishmaneurope.com.

Notes to Editors:

About the Best of Britain & Ireland and Travel Trade Forum The Best of Britain & Ireland (28 and 29 March) is preceded by the Best of Britain & Ireland Travel Trade Forum, which will be open to the travel trade from 26-27 March 2009 at ExCeL London. Registration for genuine travel trade is Free of Charge (registration available now via www.britainandirelandevent.co.uk)

The Best of Britain & Ireland consumer days are 28-29 March 2009. Adult tickets start at just �10, Tickets will be on sale from 1 December. For more information about the Show visit www.britainandirelandevent.co.uk.

Press are invited to visit the show on the trade days (26-27 March). Accredited press can register free of charge now via www.britainandirelandevent.co.uk.

The Show is organised by Best of Britain Events Ltd (BoBI Events) under licence from VisitBritain.

About Best of Britain Events Ltd Best of Britain Events Ltd is an independent professional exhibition and event organiser, headed by Single Market Events managing director Tim Etchells and London EventCo managing director Rob Mackenzie.

About VisitBritain VisitBritain is responsible for promoting Britain as a world class tourist destination and for developing England�s visitor economy. It has representatives in 36 countries around the world and, in the last three years, has expanded into China, throughout Eastern Europe and Southeast Asia, and increased its presence in India with representatives in Bangalore and Mumbai.

Provisional figures for 2007 indicate there were 32.6 million visits to Britain, -0.5% down on 2006. They spent �16.0 billion in the UK: a -0.3% decrease on 2006.

VisitBritain�s international website, www.visitbritain.com, was awarded World�s Leading Tourism Authority Internet Site for the fourth year in a row at the 2007 World Travel Awards by more than 200,000 travel and tourism professionals. With information provided in 26 different languages, every year over 12 million visits are made by international consumers to the 46 websites that make up visitbritain.com.