A mad hatter's tea party, a caucus race and a white rabbit were just some of the elements that went into creating a Visit Wales dinner with a difference this week as part of the Meetings & Incentive Travel Show in London.

The Visit Wales hosted a themed "Alice in Wonderland" evening for potential buyers in the business travel market, at Browns Restaurant in Covent Garden. A total of 50 companies attended the dinner to see what Wales has to offer in terms of conventions, corporate hospitality and incentive travel. Among them were blue chip brands with significant purchasing power, including Camelot Group plc, Legal and General, IBM and 3i plc.

Beth Harris, Senior Business Travel Executive at the WTB's Business Travel Unit, said: "The M&IT Show is an ideal opportunity to talk directly with the people who make the decisions on where future meetings and events will be held.

"We wanted to create a buzz around Wales and make it a memorable destination. We came up with the Alice in Wonderland idea because Lewis Carroll actually met the real life Alice, the girl he created the stories for, in Llandudno. We felt this was an ideal hook to generate interest in Wales and what we have to offer."

Guests at the Wales in Wonderland dinner had the opportunity to meet some of Wales' key suppliers, including representatives from North Wales Conferences, the Millennium Stadium and The Celtic Manor Resort, to find out more about the business travel opportunities available. To tie in with the theme, the suppliers were dressed as characters from Alice in Wonderland - including the Mad Hatter, the Caterpillar and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum.

To make the evening interesting and encourage event organisers to interact with suppliers, guests were asked to complete the "Caucus Race", which involved finding out answers to Alice based riddles from each of the suppliers.

The event caused a stir among the guests, who enjoyed meeting suppliers and doing business in a relaxed atmosphere. Mary Treacy-McDougall from the Learning and Skills Development Agency, said: "This has been a brilliant way of meeting people. It's fun so you don't even notice that you are working and it has definitely opened my eyes to the many different sides of Wales."

"It's been very amusing", Cheryl Williams from the Ambulance Service Association added. "Normally, you go to events like this and it is down to business straight away. But here business is mixed with pleasure. We have never held events in Wales before but now it is high on the agenda. We've been able to find out about its facilities and who can provide the services that we need."

Beth Harris added: "Everything about the event was themed - from the costumes to the glasses which carried "Drink me" labels. It was a light hearted event but one which had an important focus - to tell event organisers about Wales.

"Business travel is important to the Welsh tourism economy, bringing in £100 million a year. We want to ensure that Wales is front of mind when event organisers are planning their next event."