World Travel Market tips

The Saudi tourism delegation returned to WTM with more than 75 Saudi partners including key DMOs, DMCs, hotels, tour operators, airlines, cruise companies and more – a 48% increase on last year and its largest-ever delegation – to share the latest developments and create new business opportunities for the Saudi tourism ecosystem.

RX UK is pleased to announce the appointment of Jonathan Heastie as Portfolio Director of its Travel sector. In his new role, Jonathan will lead the strategic development and growth of RX UK’s portfolio of travel brands: World Travel Market WTM and Arabian Travel Market ATM.

After a string of successful award wins throughout 2023, Weeva has won the global Responsible Tourism Award for ‘Addressing Climate Change’.

World Travel Market London 2023 – the world’s most influential travel & tourism event – saw attendance numbers rise by more than a fifth year on year.

With Saudi Arabia being the world’s fastest growing new year-round tourism destination, STA has announced it will enter into a major new partnership with RX Global - following a formal signing after WTM London - which will see STA become the first-ever ‘Global Travel Partner’ of the World Travel Market (WTM) tradeshow events.

Minister of Tourism, Hon Edmund Bartlett, CD, MP, has set a new target to welcome 250,000 visitors out of the United Kingdom (UK) and Ireland by 2025. This follows on the heels of Jamaica being the number one Caribbean destination among British travellers last year.

In its first appearance at World Travel Market (WTM) 2023, Trip.com Group, a global leader in travel services, laid out its inroads into the European market and the transformative role of artificial intelligence. The event, held from 6-8 November in London, provided a platform for Trip.com Group to articulate its vision of reshaping the travel experience with advanced AI technology and to solidify its position as an emerging key player in the European travel market.

Day two of World Travel Market London 2023 – the world’s most influential travel and tourism event – saw key topics discussed including diversity and inclusion, the future of travel and responsible tourism.

Brazil and South Africa have signed an agreement to foster collaboration between the two countries in their tourism initiatives.

Quito Turismo was in the spotlight for yet another year with its participation in World Travel Market, which took place in London on 6-8 November. This internationally renowned event has been a key opportunity to show the full range of tourism, cultural and gastronomic attractions the city has to offer. During the fair, Quito Turismo held more than 50 meetings with media and agents from the tourism sector, with the aim of establishing strategic alliances to promote Quito’s novelties and charms. Ten interviews were also successfully conducted with various international media channels, in addition to destination presentations that targeted more than 10 international media, providing the opportunity to learn about the destination first-hand.

“We are resolute in Calvia’s tourism transformation, to spread the benefits throughout the year for both locals and visitors”, says Mayor of Calvia, Juan Antonio Amengual, on day one of World Travel Market.

At a press conference during World Travel Market 2023, the newly elected President of the Balearic Islands, Marga Prohens, together with the new Minister of Tourism for the Balearic Islands, Jaume Bauza Mayol, unveiled the future tourism strategy for the archipelago (which comprises of Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza and Formentera).

Once exclusively known as Spain’s main party island, Ibiza has been growing its sports and wellness offering, to become a burgeoning tourism hotspot for athletic travellers and avid sports fans. Unique for its beautiful landscape of golden beaches, rolling hills, pine forests, lush mountains and warm climate with 300 days of sunshine a year, Ibiza is embracing the great outdoors with a diverse array of exciting sports events taking place in 2024.

From January up until the end of September 2023, Spain received 66.5 million international arrivals, up 18.8% year-on-year, and 0.6% below pre-pandemic levels in 2019. The main inbound tourism markets were the United Kingdom, representing around 13.8 million arrivals, France with almost 9.4 million arrivals and Germany, with almost 8.5 million arrivals. By Autonomous Communities (or regions), from January to September (inclusive), Cataluña received the most international visitors with almost 14.2 million arrivals, followed by the Balearic Islands.

The Moroccan National Tourism Office (MNTO) is deploying special measures for its participation in the World Travel Market (WTM) London 2023, taking place from 6-8 November. A strong Moroccan delegation is actively involved in this exhibition, with the presence of 44 professional co-exhibitors and representatives from Morocco’s 12 regions. The delegation is led by the Minister of Tourism, Handicrafts, Social and Solidarity Economy, Fatim-Zahra Ammor, Adel El Fakir, General Director of the MNTO and Hamid Bentaher, President of the National Tourism Confederation.

Extreme weather events, high interest and geopolitical uncertainty are just some of the new headwinds facing the travel industry today.

Ras Al Khaimah Tourism Development Authority (RAKTDA) and Oman Tourism Development Company (OMRAN Group) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) today to collectively initiate and pursue cross-destination tourism promotion and marketing initiatives between the Musandam Governorate, Sultanate of Oman and the Emirate of Ras Al Khaimah, United Arab Emirates.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) is using the WTM 2023 as a platform to launch its new ‘Meaningful Relationship’ marketing communication concept to a worldwide tourism industry audience as well as to celebrate winners of the Responsible Thailand Awards 2023. Present at the Amazing Thailand Press Conference on 6 November were Minister of Tourism and Sports, H.E. Ms. Sudawan Wangsuphakijkosol, and TAT Governor, Ms. Thapanee Kiatphaibool, as well as TAT executives. The event was attended by members of the global media and industry professionals.

The first day of World Travel Market London 2023 – the world’s most influential travel and tourism event – kicked off with some key international gatherings.

Yesterday at World Travel Market (WTM) London, MyTicketPro launched a trustworthy sports ticketing platform by and for the tourism industry. This groundbreaking solution gives travel professionals access to verified live ticket inventory for North American (NA) sports events thanks to involvement from sports executives and proprietary software connections. Global uniform pricing and instant digital confirmations will be available to platform users via myticketpro.com.

Egypt’s Minister for Tourism and Antiquities, Ahmed Issa, will be attending this year’s WTM to unveil updates to the country’s ambitious national tourism strategy. Egypt’s tourism strategy aims to achieve rapid growth in the sector. The country has already received more than 7 million tourists during the first half of 2023, the highest level in Egypt’s history.