Visitor Increase Fuelled by Senior Industry Professionals
WTM London 2018, the event where ideas arrive, and its co-located sister event Travel Forward experienced a massive 6% increase in visitors fuelled by an increase in senior travel and tourism industry professionals attending the event, according to unaudited figures.
WTM London 2018 (including the new travel technology event Travel Forward) saw visitor numbers – including exhibitor invitees, WTM Buyers’ Club members and trade visitors – increase by 6% to 32,700.
Furthermore, members of the international media increased by 1% to 2,700. Overall participant numbers increased to 51,409 – making it one of the highest attended of the 39 WTM London’s that have taken place since it launched in 1980.
The record number of visitors to WTM London – surpassing 2014’s figure of 32,462 – was fuelled by a massive 39% increase in the key benchmark of exhibitor invitee visitors. Exhibitor invitees are among the most important and senior professionals in the travel and tourism industry, invited by exhibitors on the invite-only first day of the event to conduct high-level meetings and conclude business deals. A total of 17,567 exhibitor invitees attended WTM London across the three days of the event (Monday 5 – Wednesday 7 November), compared to 12,662 at the 2017 edition.
In total, WTM London experienced almost 89,000 (88,742) visits across the three days. The first day of the event (Monday 5 November) saw 27,240, Tuesday 6 November experienced 38,035 visits and the final day of the event (Wednesday 7 November) saw 23,467 people in attendance.
The event was also visited by 9,325 member of the prestigious WTM Buyers’ Club alongside the exhibitor invitees these visitors will sign deals with exhibitors worth more than £3 billion.
Total participant numbers increased by 3% from 49,685 in 2017 to 51,409 in 2018.
WTM London 2018 was given a greater regional focus with the introduction of five regional Inspiration Zones – UK&I and International Hub, Europe, Asia, Americas and Middle East and Africa. These Inspiration Zones led to an increase in content, ideas and inspiration for participants to take back to their business and implement to help fuel the growth of the travel and tourism industry.
This strategy saw a greater number of senior CEOs and tourism ministers take part in the content programme – including easyJet’s CEO Johan Lundgren and UK tourism minister Michael Ellis. While more research was added to the programme – including dedicated regional research sessions – from respected research organisations including Euromonitor International, Mintel, ForwardKeys and Nielsen.
Furthermore, the introduction of Travel Forward – the event to inspire the travel and hospitality industry with the next generation of technology – was a great success with more exhibitors than its predecessor The Travel Tech Show at WTM.
WTM London, Senior Director, Simon Press, said: “WTM London 2018 was a fantastic event and the most successful ever. WTM London is the event where ideas arrive and this was proved with a record number of exhibitor invitees in attendance making it among the highest attended events.
“WTM London 2018 was overhauled to have a greater regional focus with the introduction of regional Inspiration Zones. The increase in participants shows this strategy was a great success with the increase in content available at the event, further improving ideas creation at the event and around the travel and tourism industry.”
Audited figures from WTM London 2018 will be available in the New Year.
WTM London 2019 – the 40th event – will take place at ExCeL London on Monday 4 to Wednesday 6 November.
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About World Travel Market
World Travel Market (WTM) portfolio comprises six leading B2B events across four continents, generating more than $7bn of industry deals. The events are:
WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend three-day exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. About 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international media visit ExCeL London every November, generating about £3.1 billion of travel industry contracts. http://london.wtm.com/. Next event: 4-6 November 2019 – London.
T>F Travel Forward is a new travel technology event co-located with WTM London 2018 and part of the WTM portfolio of events. The inaugural T>F Travel Forward conference, exhibition and buyer programme showcase the next-generation technology for travel and hospitality. Next event: 4-6 November 2019 – London. Next event: 4-6 November 2019 – London.
WTM Latin America, now in its seventh edition, attracts about 9,000 unique senior executives. The event generates about US$374 million of new business. Taking place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, this show attracts a global audience to meet and shape the direction of the travel industry. More than 7,000 unique visitors attend the event to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry news. http://latinamerica.wtm.com/. Next event: 2-4 April 2019 – Sao Paulo.
WTM Africa launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. Nearly 5,000 travel industry professionals attend Africa’s leading inbound and outbound travel and tourism market. WTM Africa delivers a proven mix of hosted buyers, media, pre-scheduled appointments, on-site networking, evening functions and invited travel trade visitors. http://africa.wtm.com/. Next event: 10-12 April 2019 – Cape Town.
Arabian Travel Market (ATM) is the leading, international travel and tourism event in the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals. ATM 2018 attracted almost 40,000 industry professionals, with representation from 141 countries over the four days. The 25th edition of ATM showcased over 2,500 exhibiting companies across 12 halls at Dubai World Trade Centre. Arabian Travel Market 2019 will take place in Dubai from Sunday, 28th April to Wednesday, 1st May 2019. To find out more, please visit: www.arabiantravelmarket.wtm.com.
About Reed Exhibitions
Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events business, enhancing the power of face-to-face through data and digital tools at more than 500 events a year, in more than 43 countries, attracting more than seven million participants. East, Asia Pacific and Africa and organised by 41 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.
About Reed Travel Exhibitions
Reed Travel Exhibitions is the world’s leading travel and tourism events organiser with a growing portfolio of more than 22 international travel and tourism trade events in Europe, the Americas, Asia, the Middle East and Africa. Our events are market leaders in their sectors, whether they are global and regional leisure travel trade events, or specialist events for meetings, incentives, conference, events (MICE) industry, business travel, luxury travel, travel technology as well as golf, spa and ski travel. We have more than 35 years’ experience in organising world-leading travel exhibitions.
More information, please contact:
Paul Nelson – WTM Portfolio PR Manager
T: +44 (0)20 8910 7032/ M: +44 (0)79 1955 5510
Natalia Hartmann – WTM Portfolio PR Executive
E: natalia.hartmann@reedexpo.co.uk
T: +44 (0)20 8439 5535/ M: +44 (0)74 0336 7331