October 2020
Clean water charity, Just a Drop has praised the organisers of the annual WTM London for their continued support as the 40 year old global networking and marketing event goes virtual in the face of the COVID -19 pandemic.
WTM London, which will be staged completely online November 9 to 11 – named WTM Virtual – came on board as the charity’s first ever partner in 1998 and, since then, they have stood as a shining example to the travel industry as a company that is passionate about giving back to communities across the world. And this year is no different.
Just a Drop’s partnership with WTM London began with the simple concept of collecting just £1 from every visitor attending the event. And now, when exhibitors book their stands, a donation to Just a Drop is included in the cost, thus supporting the charity’s important project work around the world.
A similar set up is in place for exhibitors at associated events such as Arabian Travel Market, WTM Africa and WTM Latin America.
In recent years, the WTM Portfolio has supported Just a Drop projects across Zambia, Uganda, Kenya, and most recently La Ceiba Community in Nicaragua where the charity has been able to provide 173 people with piped, safe, clean water directly to their homes.
This year, WTM will support the Rincon Community in Nicaragua. This impoverished community is home to 310 people who work mainly in subsistence agriculture with no local water supply. There is a well that the community can use, but it’s far from the village and difficult to reach. Consequently, people make up to five trips a day to fetch water, taking up to ten hours, and often the water they carry back is contaminated making their families ill.
Thanks to the travel industry who attend the WTM Portfolio shows, Just a Drop will change this and provide safe water to each household. The water, which comes from a safe water spring, will be piped through a gravity flow system into a distribution tank and then sent directly into homes through a piped network. This system will secure sustainable water for the current community and also meet their needs over the coming years as the population grows.
With clean water, children especially will benefit from improved health, better performance in school and in the long-term, improved economic opportunities, changing lives. Further, access to safe water ensures people can practice good hygiene, such as handwashing, meaning they will be more resilient in the face of the current Coronavirus crisis.
Fiona Jeffery, Founder of Just a Drop said,
“We are so grateful for our long-standing partnership with WTM London and their continued support in these difficult times. Not only have they supported us through exhibitor donations, but they have also housed Just a Drop free of charge in their own offices for the last 20 odd years, which has allowed us to keep our running costs low and concentrate our efforts and funds on projects that bring the most benefit.”
She added:
“We welcome the opportunity to speak with exhibitors and individuals attending this year’s virtual WTM event to find out how their businesses can support Just a Drop with our transformational work and help to mitigate the effects of Coronavirus, as well as having a sustainable, long-term impact on communities across the world.”
Simon Press, WTM London’s Exhibition Director, said:
“It is a great honour and a privilege for WTM London to partner with Just a Drop. We have been working together since 1998 when the charity was found, and have been supporting the cause to give communities access to sustainable, safe water solutions, sanitation facilities and knowledge of safe hygiene practices.
“Just a Drop brings 20 years of experience in handwashing, hygiene education, safe water, and sanitation and, as a result of COVID-19, hygiene has never been so crucial to stop the spread of the virus.
“The charity is doing an amazing job-fighting COVID-19 and protecting vulnerable communities.”
If you would like to schedule an appointment with Just a Drop at WTM, please contact Alice Mellar, Partnerships and Events Manager at Just a Drop on alice.mellar@justadrop.org
About Just a Drop
Founded in 1998, Just a Drop provides practical, sustainable safe water solutions across the world, partnering with grassroots local communities to deliver practical assistance. To date, the charity has delivered over 300 projects across 32 countries bringing safe water, sanitation and hygiene programmes to over 1.6 million people.
Clean safe water changes everything. It improves health, education, women’s rights, safety and security; leads to secure food sources, income generation and brighter futures. It completely transforms lives, especially those of women and children.
The charity works hand-in-hand with communities to implement the best solutions for their needs, such as rainwater harvesting systems, hand-dug and drilled wells, sand dams, water distribution systems, biosand filters, latrines, and sanitation and hygiene training. Their work is developing to encompass food security and micro-finance programmes, which further support communities to lift themselves out of the poverty trap and build brighter futures.
About World Travel Market
WTM London introduces global travel buyers to the biggest destinations and brands in the world.
WTM London prides itself on being the hub of travel ideas. We aim to give you, the global travel trade an insight of how the industry will look in the future, share innovations, and create endless business opportunities.
After 40 years of you coming to us, WTM London 2020 is coming to you! We are facilitating a completely virtual event which will focus on restoring and developing business connections, growing your network, your brand and learning how to best make your comeback. This will help recover and rebuild and shape the travel industry.
The virtual event will take place across three days, from 7am-10pm, to allow access from the different zones across the globe. The live conference sessions and forums will be tackling some of the issues the industry is facing today, as well as speed networking sessions, one-to-one meetings, and virtual networking opportunities. We want to keep the global travel conversation alive and help deliver new connections as well as offering a wide range of online business opportunities.
We will address the impact the global health pandemic has had on the travel and tourism industry and discuss a road map to recovery, identifying the trends and innovation shaping the future of the industry and show you path that lies ahead.