World Travel Market London 2016 will commemorate two key responsible tourism anniversaries; 20 years of responsible tourism and 10 years of World Responsible Tourism Days.
The South African Government’s 1996 white paper; The Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa is widely heralded as the start of responsible tourism. The white paper looked at how the post-apartheid South Africa can benefit from tourism and proposes responsible tourism as the key guiding principle to build the sector. The paper puts responsible and sustainable tourism at the centre of its overall strategy, making sure both the country’s natural resources are protected and not over exploited or over commercialised while also making sure all its citizens benefit from an increase in tourists. It also puts an emphasis on tourists to respect the environment and culture of the country.
Furthermore in 2007 WTM London rebranded its Environmental Awareness Day to World Responsible Tourism Day, broadening the agenda of the day’s programme. WRTD, which will take place this year on Tuesday 8 November, is now the largest day of responsible tourism action in the world. Nearly 2,000 delegates attend the responsible tourism programme at WTM London, organised by Manchester University Responsible Tourism Professor Harold Goodwin.
This year’s programme will explore how well the travel industry has embraced responsible tourism, celebrate best practice and ask if responsible tourism has come of age after 20 years, while also attempting to predict what the industry will look like in 2036.
Goodwin said: “I have been working in the field of responsible tourism for the past two decades and have seen great changes in the way the industry has embraced and adopted responsible travel practices.
“Since 2007 WTM London has been the event where the industry has discussed, debated and promoted responsible tourism. This year’s programme will debate if enough progress has been made in responsible tourism and ask what more can be done.”
WTM London is the event where the travel and tourism industry conducts its business deals. Buyers from the WTM Buyers Club have a combined purchasing responsibility of £22.6 billion (£15.8bn) and sign deals at the event worth $3.6 billion (£2.5bn).
WTM London 2016 will be revamped as a three-day event from Monday 7 – Wednesday 9 November, with opening hours extended from 10am – 7pm for all three days.
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Notes to Editors:
To view the 1996 South African White Paper: The Development and Promotion of Tourism in South Africa visit http://www.polity.org.za/polity/govdocs/white_papers/tourism.html
About World Travel Market London
WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend three-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry.
Almost 50,000 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 London.
WTM London is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals. WTM London 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
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, as well as golf, ski and spa travel.
RTE, which organises more than 22 events around the world, includes three divisions; World Travel Market, IBTM Events and International Luxury Travel Market.
RTE is a business unit of Reed Exhibitions.
About Reed Exhibitions
Reed Exhibitions is the world’s leading events organiser, with more than 500 events in 43 countries. In 2014 Reed brought together more than seven million event participants from around the world generating billions of dollars in business. Today Reed events are held throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle 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.
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