Image by skeeze from Pixabay
Questex Travel Group’s 14th annual Global Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchange (GMITE) took place last April at Grand Summit Hotel, A Rock Resort in Park City, UT.
Guests arrived and settled into their luxury suites and gathered for a welcome reception hosted by Grand Summit Hotel and Questex Travel Group. They enjoyed an evening of networking, dining, and cocktails alongside the mountains in the resort's Red Pine Lodge.
Held in partnership with SITE, the Society for Incentive Travel Excellence, GMITE brings fully hosted, high-volume North American incentive buyers and meeting planners who have a combined purchasing power of $1.5 billion, together with global suppliers for two and a half days of exclusive networking opportunities and prescheduled one-to-one meetings in private, luxury suites. GMITE was formerly known as Incentive Travel Exchange, rebranded in 2019 to truly reflect the global nature of the event.
Event Director Jill Birkett noted that “Our choice to move to Park City for this 2019 event was an easy one. Its proximity to the international airport at Salt Lake City as well as the natural beauty of the destination helped drive interest in attending from both qualified meeting planners and global suppliers. The environment and property at the Grand Summit Hotel are extremely conducive to our format of one-to-one private meetings”.
The sold out event officially kicked off with a message from keynote speaker, Rick Garlick, Advisor to the IRF. While presenting “What in the World is Going on with Incentive Travel?” Garlick educated the crowd with an inside look at what trends the Incentive Research Foundation sees both short term and long term for incentive travel. Next up was a busy day and full day of private one-to-one appointments with suppliers and buyers chosen specifically to meet their business needs.
Education continued during today’s lunch with Regis Fleury of Québec City Business Destination addressing the crowd. He presented “Discover Beautiful Québec City” and discussed their unique incentive destination and explained all the qualities that make Quebec the perfect place to dazzle attendees. This was followed by a delectable sponsored lunch in the Kokopelli Ballroom. Organizers plan to close the first full day with an immersive dine around experience, where attendees will depart the resort to enjoy the festive western spirit of Main Street dining and shopping, sponsored by Park City Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Attendees are each slated to have a minimum of 25 pre-scheduled, private one-to-one appointments before the event ends on Friday evening, and GMITE will close with a reception at the training facility for the United States Olympic athletes, the Utah Olympic Park, where they will have a chance to stand in the very place where athletes begin their ski jump training. Guests will dine and experience the history of the USA’s Winter Olympics history throughout the facility’s museum.
GMITE 2019 sponsors include: Park City Convention & Visitors Bureau, The Grand Summit Hotel, Visit Salt Lake, Beverly Hills Conference and Visitors Bureau, Culinary Crafts, Cultivate, Dominican Republic Tourism Board, Driver Provider, Palladium Hotel Group, Puntacana Resort and Club, Québec City Business Destination, SITE, The Grand America Hotel, Utah Olympic Park, and VisitScotland/Alba Business Events.
Global Meeting & Incentive Travel Exchanges, owned and managed by Questex LLC, bring together qualified buyers and travel suppliers in key locations to provide a powerful platform for productive one-to-one meetings in private suites tailored to each attendee’s business objectives. The appointment-based events cater exclusively to the meetings, incentives, conferences and events market. More information is available at www.questextravelgroup.com.