Q&A with WTM London Exhibition Director, Juliette Losardo

Q: What can we expect from this year’s World Travel Market London?

World Travel Market brings together the global leisure travel community; providing inspiration, education, sourcing, and benchmarking for travel professionals seeking to build unique and competitive, world-class travel experiences.

The exhibitors at World Travel Market showcase a comprehensive sourcing opportunity to anyone looking to build leisure travel getaways, and this year, we’re delighted to see so many regions of the world, and travel brands, once again, represented.

The conference at World Travel Market will address and debate solutions to the emerging trends coming out of the tourism sector and provide a home to the largest gathering of tourism policy makers globally – The Ministers Summit – supported by UNWTO and WTTC.

With the strapline “The future of travel starts now” we will look forward to the future, beyond the pandemic, and focus on how the industry powers on, and keeps up the resilience that was shown (in abundance) through the pandemic – to enable business deals and resolution-based conversation.

In our 42nd year, World Travel Market is a trusted source – a knowledge centre for the tourism sector and a facilitator of business connections.

World Travel Market attracts huge global attention and provides the ideal platform for those working in international travel and tourism to reunite in the most powerful way – in person – to develop their business networks, explore trends and seal important deals.

Q: What are this year’s themes?

World Travel Market will always be driven by the developments seen within the sector.

This year at World Travel Market, there will be four conference stages dedicated to the emerging tourism trends, plus some brand new, very exciting features around the show floor.

The Future Stage is the largest conference stage and will host fundamental and futuristic content from a variety of sub-sectors such as space tourism, aviation and responsible tourism. We will hear from world leading market research companies, uncovering what the future holds for the travel sector.

The Futures Stage will host the inaugural Ministers Summit, which is organised in conjunction with UNWTO and WTTC – the largest gathering of policy makers globally. We welcome back the ITT Future You Conference, which supports aspiring students within the travel community, which is of paramount importance when the sector is tackling recruitment and retention challenges.

In addition to this you’ll see a Sustainability Stage, a Technology Stage and an Insight Stage – all delving deep into matters that need head-on discussion.

Q: How are you helping progress the urgent need for sustainability and responsibility in the tourism sector?

World Travel Market has run its Responsible Tourism programme for many years.  Our actions speak louder than words when it comes to our commitment to these initiatives. Building a robust and responsible future for travel and tourism is a priority, and World Travel Market London aims to unite the global travel industry with that shared objective.

Through the WTM Responsible Tourism Awards, we recognise and showcase businesses doing the most to develop and implement responsible practices. Our focus is on raising the issues and spreading knowledge about practical solutions.

This year at World Travel Market, you’ll see a dedicated stage with the theme of sustainability, where we plan to share expert knowledge on tangible actions directly with the travel community.

Q: What about the conference?

As highlighted previously, this year at World Travel Market, we have 4 dedicated stages supporting the most topical issues facing our sector. So far we have completed work on over 70 sessions spanning three days – and this work is ongoing! There are well-known keynote speakers, a plethora of case studies and business insights, led by industry leaders, and even a few celebrities!

Q: We have all seen the challenges the sector has faced recently; what are you doing to encourage new talent into the industry?

At World Travel Market London we are focused on bringing the global tourism industry together. In a normal year, we welcome 55,000 professionals through our doors, including 9000 decision makers. It’s our hope that with this reach, we facilitate global conversations that deliver solutions to our sector.

Recruitment and infrastructure are big topics across our conference this year. You’ll see this weaved into many sessions within the four stages over three days. We have a dedicated stage, The Insights Stage, which will host sessions around business strategies and you’ll also see some dedicated sessions on recruitment and retention.

We welcome back the ITT Future You Conference this year, which is dedicated to tourism students and young people wishing to work in travel. It aims to inspire the next generation and show them the huge breadth and variety of roles available in the industry, some of which they may not have considered before.

This group of young people are more important than ever, and we’re keen to show them all the wonderful things the industry has to offer.