Read Tips & Information about one of the most popular fairs in the tourism industry, World Travel Market in London

World Travel Market (WTM) London is one of the world’s most important exhibitions in the tourism industry. During the fair, visitors and exhibitors are presented with great opportunities for networking that can lead to a fruitful collaboration development. In this article, we will provide our Success Tips for Hoteliers, for ensuring a successful WTM 2017.

What makes World Travel Market (WTM) so special?

• The Timing: November is a great period for making new agreements. A significant number of hotels (particularly from Southern Europe and the Mediterranean) are at the end of their high season, making them now available for new business development. On the other hand, for many Asian destinations, it is only the beginning of their high
  season, so the hotels are searching for last minute deals to enforce their overall sales.
• The Location: London is, without a doubt, one of the most important commercial centers in the world, influencing various global trends. A business trip to London provides networking opportunities, not only during the fair but also with a possible extension of your stay in the city.
• The quality: WTM London presents a more upmarket profile, attracting high-quality visitors from across the globe. With its several worldwide editions, the fair preserves a strong brand awareness, continuously growing its trade visitors. It is also the best channel to penetrate the very important and top quality, UK Travel Market.

IF YOU ARE AN EXHIBITOR:
1. Complete your online Profile to become more Visible
Your exhibitor profile now requests more than the regular information usually required, including Products, Case Studies, White Papers, Events etc. The more complete your profile is, the better visibility you will have among the visitors who are searching for new ideas.

SMART TIP: Develop your company’s content using the keywords that you believe your
possible clients will search.

2. Unlock the ‘Targeted Emails’ feature, by inviting your personal contacts
World Travel Market (WTM) gives you the ability to send an automated meeting request to up to 1000 visitors from your preferred sectors, on the condition that you first upload at least 250 personal contacts in their system. However, adding your personal contacts in the platform has its own benefits. When you add these contacts, a well designed, personalized e-mail is automatically sent to your leads, inviting them to your booth. Following these steps, you have
already started promoting your company without even realising it.

SMART TIP: The WTM System will display your uploaded personal contacts in a list, informing you if they have already registered in the fair (and therefore, they will visit WTM), allowing you to do a better follow up.

3. Use the ‘Targeted Emails’ feature to request a meeting with up to 1000 registered
visitors
After adding at least 250 contacts, the system will allow you to send up to 1000 personalized emails to registered visitors. But things might not be as simple as they sound. Sending e-mails to random visitors will obviously get you nowhere, so you have to follow a more targeted strategy. Using the tools and filters provided by WTM, make sure to include only the visitors that could be possibly interested in your work, in order to arrange higher-quality meetings.
SMART TIP: Be careful when using the automated text editor, since it adds a standard text at the begging and end of you message. Make sure to preview your message before sending it, to ensure its right appearance and content.

4. Contact other exhibitors and their staff, through the WTM platform
Only WTM exhibitors are allowed to send direct messages to other exhibitors as well as see the contact details of their personnel. Don’t miss to make use of this feature, since you can discover some very interesting leads among the participating hotels and companies.
SMART TIP: You can find some contacts through Linkedin for a more direct and
personalized way of communication before the fair.

5. Follow Up the auto-generated leads

IF YOU ARE A VISITOR:
1. Interact with as many exhibitor profiles as possible
The ability for a Visitor to send meeting requests to the exhibitors has been removed from the WTM System. Moreover, the Visitors are no longer able to find the people working at the exhibiting companies, something that, according to WTM, protects the exhibitors from spamming. On the other hand, WTM has created some new ways of connection: If a visitor saves or favorites an exhibitor, the exhibitor will receive their contact details within a special
area in the exhibitor’s profile, informing about this new lead. Even though it is more difficult for the visitors to arrange meetings now, it’s actually not that bad: With a proper research and better understanding of the targeted companies, the visitors will be able to arrange higher quality meetings more easily, since the exhibitors are now protected from spam and will not receive a huge number of emails and requests.

2. Send a WTM Meeting Request to your personal database:
There is not a better way to organize your visit, than contacting your personal contacts first.
Each company has its own list of possible clients, and (especially when talking about tourism) these contacts are highly possible to visit these important travel exhibitions. It is highly recommended to send a direct e-mail to your personal contacts, informing them about your visit to World Travel Market London. This will lead to new meeting requests, and, of course, will enhance your business profile since the participation in international travel exhibitions
indicates high-quality and professionalism.

If you are interested in penetrating the global Hotelier and Tourism Market, you can contact a Tourism Strategy Specialist at morantis@morantis.com

Visit Hotelier Academy‘s stand: EU1101