On Day 1 of World Travel Market London – the leading global event for the travel industry – a significant new business deal focused on the substantial global LGBT market was concluded at the official LGBT Village at WTM.
The market comprised of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender travellers is valued at USD$202billion (in 2014) by LGBT2030 research data.
Travel Market Report, the voice of professional travel agents in the US and Canada and travel agent B2B news website http://TravelMarketReport.com has formed a strategic alliance with Out Now Business Class http://OutNowBusinessClass.com – the world’s leading LGBT travel trade association managed by Out Now Global http://outnowconsulting.com – a specialist LGBT consulting company and host of the official LGBT Village #LGBTvillage at WTM for the past four years.
The deal sees Out Now creating specialist online training modules for the travel agent audience reached by Travel Market Report (TMR) exceeding 30,000 travel agents and tour operators daily. Those agents who train will become certified as LGBT-welcoming and listed on the new http://Welcome.LGBT consumer-facing website. Individual destination modules will also be available allowing agents and tour operators to be LGBT-certified as sales agents for specific destinations in the program.
According to CEO of Out Now, Ian Johnson the deal was in discussion for many months but it was meeting in person at the official LGBT Village at WTM that saw the deal concluded. “We have been pleased to be talking with the team at Travel Market Report for some time now,” Johnson says. “It was great to get to meet in person at World Travel Market at the official LGBT Village to finalise details so we can now announce this deal together. Travel agents remain a very important channel to market and our strategic alliance with TMR enables us to bring our 25 years of specialist LGBT expertise to help a large and growing pool of agents who want to access this valuable market but are uncertain how and where to start. The new ONBC training modules which will be hosted on our http://Learn.LGBT platform will open the doorway to a new market worth more than USD$200 billion in annual spending and we are delighted to be in the position to do this. This will benefit travel agents, the industry and – most importantly – LGBT travellers.”
Daniel Wade, Senior Vice-President and Co-Publisher, Travel Market Report said his company was delighted with arranging the alliance with Out Now at WTM. “We bring to the table a large audience of engaged, professional travel advisors in the United States and Canada who average over 15 years experience in the travel industry and have annual personal sales of over $1 million,” says Wade. “Our readers represent today’s successful agents who are thriving in a world where consumers want deeper travel experiences that cannot easily be accommodated via online booking mechanisms. Working with Out Now sees our businesses deliver a high quality focus on meeting the evolving needs of travel agents. By collaborating with Out Now with these new training resources for travel agents creates a powerful new platform for the industry to better connect with an important customer group. We can see much good that will result from this deal.”
Travel Market Report has been educating travel agents on specific niche markets since their inception. Forthcoming events include The REAL Travel Event in Riviera Maya in December and Travel Market Place conference dedicated to Canadian travel agents, May 2-3, 2016 in Toronto.
Simon Press, Reed Travel Exhibitions Director World Travel Market, was pleased to see such a significant deal for the tourism industry reached at the LGBT Village at WTM. “WTM and Out Now are entering their tenth year of partnering to advance exactly the kind of industry evolution that this deal between Out Now and TMR will deliver for the global travel industry,” Press says. “We are delighted this happened on Day 1 of the 2015 World Travel Market at the official LGBT Village hosted by Out Now. World Travel Market means business and this deal will help the industry and its interactions with LGBT customers.
Out Now is presenting the LGBT Masterclass at WTM on Wednesday November 4, 10:30am at which the results from the world’s first industry-wide survey on LGBT travel will be released.
The official LGBT Village is at Stand UKI-238 at World Travel Market.
More information:
About World Travel Market London
WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend four-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry.
Almost 51,500 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international press, embark on ExCeL – London every November to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends at WTM.
WTM London, now in its 36th year, is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals. WTM 2014 will generate around £2.5 billion of travel industry contracts.
WTM London is part of Reed Travel Exhibition’s World Travel Market events, which also includes Arabian Travel Market, World Travel Market Latin America and World Travel Market Africa. www.wtmworld.com
About Out Now
Out Now develops LGBT marketing solutions utilising a range of strategies including gay and lesbian market research, LGBT niche media, online internet activities, tailored gay and lesbian advertising, targeted LGBT and mainstream public relations as well as below-the-line marketing activities to develop, and implement, integrated strategies for clients that deliver highly successful results. Out Now clients include IBM, Toyota, Lufthansa, German National Tourist Office, Switzerland Tourism, Turespaña and Hilton Hotels. In 2016, Out Now celebrates 25 years of market leadership in developing business-to-business and business-to-consumer marketing relationships with LGBT people. The company undertakes the world’s largest LGBT market research program LGBT2030 www.LGBT2030.com which has sampled to date over 100,000 LGBT people living in 24 countries worldwide. ONBC – Out Now Business Class – is the world’s largest LGBT tourism trade networking association. http://outnowconsulting.com http://OutNowBusinessClass.com ;
About Travel Market Report
Travel Market Report is an online business publication that serves as an independent forum and voice for retail travel sellers in the US and Canada. As “voice of the travel professional,” we provide in-depth coverage and analysis of news and trends affecting top producing travel agents, along with practical business advice and insights into key growth markets. The editors are guided by an independent Editorial Advisory Board whose members represent a cross-section of the retail travel industry in North America. Launched in 2009 by American Marketing Group, Travel Market Report delivers news updates by email to subscribers.
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