WTM in thirties
I once again had the pleasure of attending World Travel Market this year down in London. As everyone in travel industry is familiar, it’s the industry’s mega-event and an immense gathering of press, tourism organisations and travel agents was there. It is a great way to get a good feel for the hot topics and trends of tourism around the world, but it’s not necessarily a fantastic place for small business (I actually have seen several comments on it during the week that agreed) but the overall topics were quite significant.
                WTM summit is a creative endeavor and is directed towards bringing together various leading tourism factors. Hotels, airlines, technology and online travel services, all on the same platform. For the past few years, London has been a favourite destination for bringing such summits and organising such gatherings that primarily aims to target diverse nationalities and work into one common objective.
                A repeat visitor, like me, to the event WTM '09 that ended recently, may be forgiven for thinking that there was no recession as the number of exhibitors was nearly as many (over 5500) as those for 2008 (5615). The crush of attendees alighting from London's DLR (Docklands Light Railway) seemingly all at once every morning at the Excel Center did nothing to dispel that notion.
                Countries that participated in a truly big way included economically deprived nations such as Nigeria as well as economically devastated states like Iceland. Formerly war-torn Sri Lanka also had a substantial footprint with a range of tour operators, hotels and its national carrier. WTM's technology section, off to one side of Excel's floor too was not wanting either with a range of offerings for hoteliers and other travel providers with cutting edge companies looking to help hospitality to grow revenue in the fast emerging field of mobile technology.
                Last year’s event was disrupted by travel chaos as London Underground’s Jubilee Line and the Docklands Light Railway -DLR both experienced severe delays. The event led authorities to promise improvements this year and they fulfilled their word Incidentally it was WTM’s 30th birthday. There’s no better way for everyone involved in World Travel Market to celebrate this major milestone. To my mind, the industry has been through tough times and good, but along the way, World Travel Market has remained a constant focus for business, innovation, networking, trends and keynote conferences and events.