Visitor participation is up 20% and the number of speed networking meetings scheduled during the three days adds up to a total of 12,000
Good news marks the last day of activities of WTM Latin America & the 47th Braztoa Business Event. At a press conference that was held early this afternoon (April 6), Charlie Cracknell, Reed Exhibitions’ Senior Exhibitions Director, Lawrence Reinisch, WTM Latin America’s director and Luciane Leite, WTM Latin America’s manager, predicted figures that reinforce the organizers’ positive impressions regarding the event’s performance. Up until yesterday (April 5th), the number of visitors was up 20% by comparison with last year and the expectation is that other indexes will also close showing a positive balance.
The presentation was opened by Charlie Cracknell, Reed Exhibitions’ Senior Exhibitions Director. The executive said that he was very happy regarding the positive feedback he has received from clients since the event got underway. “It is our feeling that the Brazilian market is heating up again and there is a positive impression in relation to new business”, reported the director. “Our main goal is not just to bring other destinations to Latin America, but also to promote valuable products from here to the rest of the world.”
Among the indicators presented by the executives are the Speed Networking meetings. The number of meetings held during the three days should add up to a total of 12 thousand. In addition, a 7% increase was observed in the number of buyers participating in the first two days of the 2017 edition, which proves the mood of economic optimism mentioned by the organization.
“One of the new features of WTM Latin America this year was My Event, which is an online platform for networking and scheduling meetings, along with other functions, in order to optimize the time in the pavilion and make the visit more focused on business, which was applied for the first time at WTM London in November of last year”, says Reinisch.
Lawrence recalled that since 2013 the WTM Latin America team has been holding workshops and road shows in various different countries throughout the region, such as Colombia, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Bolivia as well as in Central American countries (Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala), in an effort to increasingly boost the synergy between destinations and strengthen the market strategy both inside Latin America as well as outside.
The director ended his talk by reiterating that we are in a world which is in constant transformation, with new tastes, customs and cultural references. “Nowadays the length of time for adaptation is much less than it was 10 years ago, so the challenges not only entail making adjustments, but also anticipating trends.”
Clients’ preferences was not just the subject of Lawrence’s talk, but also of the panel of ESPM research professor and Co-President of Rapp Brasil, Ricardo Pomeranz. The specialist presented the “National Consumer Satisfaction Index”, which is also known as INSC Viagens.
This study indicates that consumers’ evaluation of hotels, airlines, travel agencies, loyalty programs, car rental companies and OTAs (online travel agencies) registered a figure of 67.8% during the holiday period, denoting a 9.4 p.p. drop vis-à-vis the survey carried out last year.
The event’s numbers and highlights
For this edition the event included services and tourism products from 50 countries, spread out among more than 600 exhibitors, occupying a net area that was 20% greater than it was than last year. Among the destinations present, 30% were from Brazil, 30% from the rest of Latin America and 40% from the rest of the world.
Among the event’s high points, we can highlight the opening ceremony, which was attended by more than 500 people, who accompanied the speeches that were made by authorities and the organizers, celebrating the start of the event. In addition to regional and state secretaries, leaders of class entities and businessmen from the industry, the event was also attended by the Minister of Tourism, Marx Beltrão, who highlighted the sector’s importance in terms of generating jobs and strengthening the economy.
Another one of the show’s highlights was the “Ministerial Round Table on Tourism as a Tool for Development”, which was also attended by Beltrão, along with Lilian Kechichián, Uruguay’s Minister of Tourism and Alejandro Lastra, Argentina’s Secretary of Tourism. More than 100 people accompanied the conversation between the three countries’ leaderships, which among other items covered issues such as visa facilitation policies, the strengthening of air infrastructure, with more connectivity, and promotion of the destination.
In its fifth year, WTM Latin America attracts 9,000 of the top executives from Latin America’s travel industry. In 2016 the event generated more than US$ 370 million in terms of new business that was done between exhibitors and buyers.
About WTM Latin America
WTM Latin America, now in its 5th year, attracts almost 9,000 unique senior executives interested in the Latin American travel industry. The 2016 event generated US$ 370 million of new business which was conducted between exhibitors and buyers. WTM Latin America is part of WTM Portfolio of events, which also includes World Travel Market London, World Travel Market Africa, Arabian Travel Market, WTM Connect Asia and International Golf Travel Market. www.wtm.com. http://latinamerica.wtm.com.
About Reed Travel Exhibitions
Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world’s leading provider of exhibitions in the travel and tourism industry. Its wide-ranging portfolio of events around the globe covers leisure travel, luxury travel, meetings, incentives and business travel. RTE, which organizes more than 20 events around the world, includes three portfolios: World Travel Market, IBTM Events and International Luxury Travel Market. RTE is a business unit of Reed Exhibitions. www.reedtravelexhibitions.com.
About Reed Exhibitions
Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organizer, with over 500 events in 30 countries. In 2015, Reed brought together over seven million events participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are hold throughout Americas, Africa, Europe, Middle East, Asia and Oceania, and organized by 40 fully staffed offices. Reed Exhibitions serves 43 industry sectors with trade and consumer events. It is part of the RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. www.reedexpo.com.
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