Reed Travel Exhibitions is launching Travel Forward, a brand new event co-located with WTM London 2018 and part of the WTM portfolio of events.

The inaugural Travel Forward conference, exhibition and buyer program will take place from 5 – 7 November 2018 at ExCeL London, UK offering the next generation in technology for travel and hospitality.

It will bring together suppliers and buyers from the travel, tourism and hospitality ecosystem, who are responsible for leading, managing and delivering their business’ strategy and employing innovative technology and applications.

Travel Forward is a standalone event, with a dedicated entrance and registration process. It will have its own keynote speaker stage and two conference theatres. These will host a world-class line up of technology-focused speakers representing all aspects of the global travel industry, as well as experts from other verticals and disciplines.

Travel Forward has already received strong support from the travel and hospitality industry.

“The concept for Travel Forward sounds really exciting and highlights the need for the industry to come together to take advantage of technological change and stay at the forefront of innovation,” Utpal Kaul, Head – New Product Incubation, Carlson Wagonlit Travel.

It will replace The Travel Tech Show at WTM, which launched in 2013 as a show within a show.

The Travel Tech Show has grown during this time, reflecting not only its success in attracting buyers, suppliers and visitors, but also technology’s increasingly prevalent role across the travel industry.

Launching Travel Forward as a standalone event illustrates the commitment RTE has to technology and allows for further expansion in the future.

In terms of content, payments, digital marketing, consumer insights and needs, connectivity and big data, and advances in AR, VR, AI, robotics and machine learning will feature as prominently as established travel technology topics such as booking engines, revenue, yield and property management systems and end-user tech.

There is also a dedicated product theatre, exclusively available to Travel Forward exhibitors to host product demos. The intention is to cap the number of exhibitors to 250 in order to align suppliers and buyers more effectively and to manage the ratio of suppliers to buyers for the pre-scheduled meetings at one-to-one.

Other features befitting Travel Forward‘s status as a standalone event is a dedicated Buyers’ Lounge.

There is also an area for the travel-focused start-up and scale-up community, where early-stage businesses can meet, present and interact with investors, large corporates and their peers. Furthermore, the “Pitch It – Prove It” banner will have an emphasis on showing how ideas work in practice as well as the theory behind them.

Travel Forward exhibitors also benefit from the year-round dedicated marketing and communications program.

Another advantage in launching Travel Forward as a dedicated event is that it will provide a greater selection of stand locations for exhibiting companies. The intention is to allow travel technology firms to be creative in their use of space and how they engage with attendees during the three days.

Travel Forward, Senior Director, Charlie Cracknell, said: “Travel Forward is a significant move for Reed Travel Exhibitions and confirms our commitment to continuously innovating our offer for our key constituents – buyers, exhibitors and visitors. We have carried out extensive research with all these groups and have devised what we believe will set the standard for technology-focused business-to-business events.

“By leveraging our insight from all our industry-leading events across Reed Travel Exhibitions and the WTM Portfolio events, Travel Forward will become the leading event for the global travel and hospitality technology industry.”

Find out more at http://travelforward.wtm.com/

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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 £2.8 billion of travel industry contracts. http://london.wtm.com/. Next event: 5-7 November 2018 – 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 will take place on 5 – 7 November 2018 at ExCeL London, showcasing next-generation technology for travel and hospitality.

WTM Latin America, now in its sixth 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: 3-5 April 2018 – 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: 18-20 April 2018 – 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 2017 attracted almost 40,000 industry professionals, agreeing deals worth US$2.5 billion over the four days. The 25th edition of ATM will showcase more than 2,500 exhibiting companies across 12 halls at Dubai World Trade Centre, making it the largest ATM in its 25-year history.  http://arabiantravelmarket.wtm.com/ www.wtmworld.com. Next event: 22-25 April 2018 – Dubai.

International Golf Travel Market (IGTM) is the meeting place for the global B2B golf travel community. Taking place annually since 1998, IGTM brings together more than 500 golf tourism suppliers and 400 pre-qualified buyers for four days of unmissable pre-scheduled appointments and exclusive networking opportunities. Showcasing a different golf destination every year, IGTM brings together 1,400 golf tourism professionals from more than 65 countries. http://igtm.wtm.com/. Next event: 15-18 October 2018 – Slovenia.

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. Reed’s events are held in the Americas, Europe, 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

E: paul.nelson@reedexpo.co.uk

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