World Travel Market 2018 kick-starts in London
WTM London, held from November 5 to 7, has almost 170 exhibitors making their debut at this year. “Ideas Arrive Here” is the theme for the 38th edition of the show. The show expects some 50,000 delegates from 182 countries and regions, who will conduct even more business than last year’s record £3.1 billion.
The new entrants include airlines, movie-set tour providers, adventure operators and sports venues, as well as tourist boards, destination marketing companies, tech innovators and car-hire companies. New airlines that are flying in are US-based Air Transat; Indian-based Go Airlines; Middle Eastern carrier Royal Brunei Airlines and Iceland’s national carrier, Icelandair.
World Travel Market London (WTM London) has grown tremendously over the past four decades. Some 40 countries, 221 exhibitors and 9,000 trade visitors took part in the first ever WTM at London Olympia in 1980. However, now WTM London facilitates £3.1 billion ($ 4.079 billion) in industry deals and has more than 5,000 exhibitors from 182 countries and regions and more than 51,000 participants.
The 38th edition of WTM London 2018 organized at ExCel London is full of new ideas and business opportunities. A three-day travel technology show in London, Travel Forward, is an exciting new event in the WTM portfolio. The new technology-focused event co-located with WTM London, will take place between November 5 to 7 at ExCeL London.
This year, the organizers have created an area dedicated to exhibitors in the tours and activities sector. There is also a dedicated focus on the geographic regions of the exhibition floor with the Inspiration Zone added to each region. These zones will host dedicated regional content and events.
The new WTM Agency Pavilion offers dedicated exhibition space for marketing, representation, PR, media and social media agencies to promote their services to the industry. The Pavilion is conveniently located at the entrance of the WTM International Media Centre.
The inaugural International Travel & Tourism Awards will take place on the evening of November 6 at the iconic Tobacco Dock venue. The awards will recognise and reward excellence and best practice in 13 categories.
This year, WTM London’s Global Stage will kick off with a look at Instagram’s impact on travel. The session will ask how travel marketers can get involved, which will be followed by a talk entitled ‘How to Get Billions of Video Views’, which will explain how a handful of video creators are responsible for billions of Facebook views and show how to work with them.