Jessica Amoako – GEC PR Intern

World Travel Market (WTM) is a three-day event where you find all the biggest travel companies, beautiful destinations, tourism boards, tour operators, transport companies, travel PR companies, journalists, travel influencers and content creators. At WTM you will also find many brands and businesses in the travel industry.

I attended WTM for the first time in November 2022. The event was held at Excel Centre in London from the 7^th November to 9^th November and I attended on Monday and Wednesday. It was wonderful as I got to experience the first and last day.

Before the first day, I had spent some time researching the event, exhibitors and conferences that are held. I also learnt every year is different so even though I had an idea of the event, I did not know what to expect and experience.

On the first day, the GEC PR team met outside the show, got our badges, and entered the Excel together. The event is very well organised from security scanning badges at the entrance to the layout in the event centre and there are several large boards stationed in the centre of the hall. These boards display maps of stands categorised in continents which makes it easy to find your way considering how big the Excel Centre is. The boards also have information on seminars during the day and where the conference location is.

I was quite overwhelmed when I entered because I did not expect the centre to be so big. There were many stands, and the atmosphere was amazing. It was great seeing beautiful destinations exhibit colourful and bright stands and displaying their culture, with some people dressed in local costumes and others had props showcasing the destination.

For instance, this year our client Madhya Pradesh Tourism had a stand demonstrating the wildlife and cultural highlights of the region including virtual reality headsets that gave guests a feel for how the actual destination is.

On day one of WTM, I was tasked with attending five talks which were all about the future and trends of travel. I checked the maps to know where each location is and made my way to GEC PR’s client stand. Our client, Madhya Pradesh had a stand located in the Asia area of the show.

I attended all five sessions and gathered relevant information about the future of the travel industry and strategies travel companies need to put in place in times of uncertainty. The seminars were insightful and had great speakers from the travel and transport industry.

On the last day of WTM, I attended a conference on the future of travel marketing which was incredibly interesting. It had speakers in the travel industry sharing insights on how to map a client or customer’s journey in gaining brand loyalty.

I took some time to go round to see and visit some of the various stands and went to the client stand to meet the rest of the team.

My first experience was amazing, it felt like I had visited all these continents and countries at the exhibition. World Travel Market is definitely a must attend for anyone interested in the travel industry.