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WTM London introduces inspiration hubs

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By Reginald Chapfunga

WTM London set for 5 to & November 2018 have introduced Inspiration Zones which will be added to the seven regions of the event which are UK & Ireland, Europe & Mediterranean, Middle East & North Africa, Americas, Asia, International Hub, and Africa.

The new initiative will make the event more focused on specific destinations and also potlight on each of the regions, with the hubs acting as a focal point to highlight the different cultures, challenges and issues.

WTM London, Senior Director, Simon Press, said: “About 50,000 people attend WTM London every year, with almost one million business meetings leading to £3.1 billion in industry.

“However, we are always striving to make the event even more relevant and beneficial for our exhibitors and participants. A regional centre point in the form of hubs will allow each region to debate its specific opportunities and challenges in all sectors. Furthermore, the inspiration zones will be used for specific regionally-focused networking opportunities.”

Further changes for WTM London 2018 will see the WTM Global Stage become an Amphitheatre holding 400 delegates. It will continue to host the main session at the event including the WTM & UNWTO Ministers’ Summit.

Meanwhile, three major events hosted by Reed Travel under the World Travel Market (WTM) worldwide so far this year have each attracted an even bigger slice of the globe’s travel representatives – posting record attendance figures and marking major milestones on the exhibition floor.

In a statement, Reed Travel said, “The 25th Arabian Travel Market (ATM), held in Dubai in April, hosted 39,000 travel, hospitality and tourism professionals from across the world. The four-day event closed on 25 April 2018 with a 7% increase in international visitors and an impressive 11% increase in visitors from the African continent.”

This is the second year in succession that the number of ATM attendees has reached the 39,000 mark and visitor figures have increased 40% since 2013. Over 400 main stand holders from more than 140 countries exhibited at ATM, with over 100 new exhibitors making their debut.

“Session highlights included a discussion on the impact Hyperloop and other ultra-modern travel infrastructure will have on the tourism industry in the UAE and wider GCC over the next decade. Following a successful debut last year, the Halal Tourism Summit returned to the Global Stage on day three, welcoming leading Muslim travel industry experts,” said Reed Travel.

Simon Press, Senior Exhibition Director, ATM, said: “The continued growth of ATM is testament to the robust strength of the travel and tourism industry in the Middle East. ATM provides an ideal platform to discuss the potential of the inbound and outbound markets of the Middle East.”

Over in Cape Town – host city of WTM Africa 2018 – Pre-audited statistics of WTM Africa 2018 which took place in Cape Town from April 18 to 20, show an 18% year-on-year increase in visitor numbers.

“More than 600 companies exhibited, while hosted buyers represented a cross-section of over 50 different countries. A total of 37 African countries were represented at WTM Africa, while media attendance was up 8%.

“In addition to an increase in buyers from Africa in particular, 2018 also saw buyers from new markets including Mexico, Greece, Romania, Spain, Argentina, Hong Kong, Zimbabwe, Senegal, Rwanda, Algeria and Ivory Coast,” read the statement.

Chardonnay Marchesi, South Africa Portfolio Director for Reed Exhibitions’ Travel, Tourism & Sports Portfolio, said: “We continue to strengthen our presence as the penultimate African travel trade exhibition, and the trust of these exhibitors is testament to that.”

Another major event WTM Latin America 2018, the leading B2B travel event in the region, welcomed 12,000 visits marking a year-on-year increase of 7%.

The sixth edition of WTM Latin America, which took place between 3-5 April, in São Paulo, facilitated 12,000 business meetings, with 42 travel operators represented on the show floor. This year, for the first time, WTM Latin America 2018 brought together six hotels – Royal Palm Plaza, Wyndham Hotels, Master Hotel, Maksoud Hotel, Hotel Alfa Moscow and the Brazilian group Hotéis Luzeiros. In addition, the event welcomed top tourist cities in Brazil: Ilhabela, Paraty and Porto de Galinhas.

Luciane Leite, Director of WTM Latin America, said: “Over the three-day show, we saw busy corridors, busy sessions at the five Speed Networking meetings, well-known speakers and a lot of networking. We’re really pleased with the number of business meetings that took place over at the event generating more business deals.”WTM London has about 5,000 exhibitors from 182 countries and regions, holding almost one million business meetings with 10,500 senior buyers – leading to £3.1 billion in business deals.

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