During this year’s IMEX, the Golden Stadttor Multimedia Award will honor Ray Bloom with the Diamond Award for Lifetime Achievement. The handover of the prize will take place on Thursday, May 17, 2018, at 1 pm, by the president of the Golden City Gate, Wolfgang Jo Huschert, in the press center of the IMEX in Frankfurt. Johann Thoma, Vice President Guest Events at Messe Frankfurt, will give the eulogy and Petra Cruz, European Director of the Dominican Republic Tourism Board, will thank IMEX Ray Bloom as a longtime participant
The golden city gate always seeks added value or synergies for its multimedia submitters and is expanding.Already a few years ago, Das goldene Stadttor took on the film-print multimedia competition at the ITB, the category MICE and event in the competition and presented.
In recent years, the category MICE and Event, in addition to the category Hotels City and countries has increased by 100 percent. For this reason, the Golden City Gate presents itself at the booth of its media partner Tourism Insider C 612, now for two years the competition entries on the IMEX. Editor-in-chief Joachim Fischer is also VP Communication at the competition
In the 18th year of its existence, the international jury decided to award the founder of the two most important trade fairs for the MICE industry and internationally recognized MICE specialist, Ray Bloom, with the honorary prize for his life’s work
Ray Bloom, Chairman, IMEX Group
Ray Bloom is the chairman and founder of the IMEX Group, which organises worldwide exhibitions for the incentive travel, meetings and events industry in Europe and the USA. IMEX in Frankfurt takes place at Messe Frankfurt, Germany, every spring; while IMEX America takes place at the Las Vegas Sands Expo each autumn.
Ray Bloom has been a successful entrepreneur for many years. He started his career in the motor industry where his family’s Volkswagen Audi dealership won the Diamond Pin Award (the highest Volkswagen Award given to dealerships worldwide).
He subsequently entered the hotel industry and then the exhibition industry where he built up EIBTM (European and Incentive, Business Travel and Meetings Exhibition), which was sold to Reed Exhibitions in 1997. In addition, Bloom built up the leading sales and promotion exhibition, Incentive World (London), which was also sold to Reed Exhibitions in 2000.
Whilst founding and developing what have become the leading trade shows in the global meetings and incentive travel sector, Bloom also became heavily involved in numerous industry associations and has been recognised in a variety of ways. His recognitions include being inducted into the CIC (Convention Industry Council) Hall of Leaders (1991); being awarded UK Personality of the Year by Meetings & Incentive Travel Magazine (1993); recipient of the ICCA (International Congress and Conventions Association) Presidents Award (1997) and being inducted into the WATA (World Association of Travel Agencies) Hall of Fame in 2000. In addition in 2017 alone, he received the JMIC (Joint Meetings Industry Council) Unity Award, the MPI (Meeting Professionals International) Industry Leader Award and the ICCA Moises Shuster Award.
Bloom served on the Board of Trustees for the MPI (Meeting Professionals International) Foundation from 1996 – 2002 and MPI’s Global Strategy Taskforce Committee from 2006 – 2008. He also served on the Board of Trustees for the SITE (Society for Incentive Travel Excellence) Foundation 1993 – 1999 and, until recently, was Treasurer for the SITE Foundation. He currently serves on the MPI European Council.
Ray Bloom’s views and opinions on the meetings and incentive travel industry are widely sought after and he is a regular speaker at industry events around the world.
The IMEX Group’s offices are in Brighton, East Sussex, UK. Located on the south coast of the UK, Brighton is called ‘London by the Sea’ for its cosmopolitan nature and youth culture. Bloom was born and bred in Brighton and is enormously proud of his and his family’s links to the city.
He also has a long-standing family association with the city’s football club. As a director of Brighton and Hove Albion, he has seen the team go from strength to strength, returning to the top flight of English football in 2017, the Premier League, for the first time since 1983.
He is also vice president of the Sussex Young Cricketers, a local junior cricket team.
