WTM London 2018 was Most Successful Ever, Says Organizer

The World Travel Market (WTM) London 2018 trade show and its co-located sister event Travel Forward experienced a six percent increase in visitors fueled by an increase in senior travel and tourism industry professionals attending the event, according to unaudited figures released by organizer Reed Travel Exhibitions.

“WTM London 2018 was a fantastic event and the most successful ever. WTM London is the event where ideas arrive and this was proved with a record number of exhibitor invitees in attendance making it among the highest attended events,” WTM London, Senior Director, Simon Press, said.

Overall participant numbers at WTM London increased by three percent from 49,685 in 2017 to 51,409 in 2018 – making it one of the highest attended of the 39 WTM London’s that have taken place since it launched in 1980.

WTM London 2018 (including the new travel technology event Travel Forward) saw visitor numbers – including exhibitor invitees, WTM Buyers’ Club members and trade visitors – increase by six percent to 32,700. Members of the international media also increased by one percent to 2,700.

The organizer said that the introduction of Travel Forward was a great success with more exhibitors than its predecessor The Travel Tech Show at WTM.

WTM London 2018 was also given a greater regional focus with the introduction of five regional Inspiration Zones – UK&I and International Hub, Europe, Asia, Americas and Middle East and Africa. These Inspiration Zones led to an increase in content, ideas and inspiration for participants to take back to their business and implement to help fuel the growth of the travel and tourism industry.

World Travel Market 2018, ExCeL London – Americas Inspiration Zone, Harold Goodwin, WTM RT Advisor

“WTM London 2018 was overhauled to have a greater regional focus with the introduction of regional Inspiration Zones. The increase in participants shows this strategy was a great success with the increase in content available at the event, further improving ideas creation at the event and around the travel and tourism industry,” Press added.

A greater number of senior CEOs and tourism ministers took part in WYM London’s content programme – including easyJet’s CEO Johan Lundgren and UK tourism minister Michael Ellis. While more research was added to the programme – including dedicated regional research sessions – from respected research organisations including Euromonitor International, Mintel, ForwardKeys and Nielsen.

Moreover, the record number of visitors to WTM London was fuelled by a massive 39 percent increase in the key benchmark of exhibitor invitee visitors to 17,567 across the three days of WTM London (Monday 5 – Wednesday 7 November), compared to 12,662 at the 2017 edition.

In total, WTM London experienced almost 89,000 (88,742) visits across the three days. The first day of the event (Monday 5 November) saw 27,240, Tuesday 6 November experienced 38,035 visits and the final day of the event (Wednesday 7 November) saw 23,467 people in attendance.

The event was also visited by 9,325 member of the prestigious WTM Buyers’ Club alongside the exhibitor invitees these visitors will sign deals with exhibitors worth more than £3 billion.

Audited figures from WTM London 2018 will be available in the New Year.

WTM London 2019 – the 40th event – will take place at ExCeL London on Monday 4 to Wednesday 6 November.

The Greek Travel Pages (GTP) was an official media partner of WTM London 2018.

For GTP’s WTM London 2018 Special feature, press here.