World Travel
Market , London, 2018 ….
Yes, it’s still in business. Despite continuing
mutters about its high price, value for time and money, London’s World Travel
Market was back last week at the Excel exhibition centre.
Some of the traditional exhibitors have scaled back or
gone entirely. A lot of the names and people are new as generations move on.
New businesses and people need a platform to show their faces to start building
up the relationships which will bring in the money. Hopefully this is what’s
happening.
The first surprise was to see the Palestine
stand. The second was the long queue
waiting to step onto their carpet; a queue that continued to grow for several
hours. Banksy, the street artist, was
the attraction. He, apparently, has an
interest in a local hotel. The stand
displayed two large pieces of his work and being given away to everyone were
‘collectable’ Banksy prints. Certainly
different to collecting armfuls of brochures.
The second surprise was the central positioning of the
Africa stands. Years of banishment to a
remote end of hall area were but a memory.
How areas are allocated is a mystery.
But, be it chance or influence that determines it, Africa benefitted
this year. Positioned between the big-hitter stands of the Gulf countries and
India, Africa had become part of the tourism Premier League. The passing
footfall is high and simple awareness of the existence and location of Rwanda, Malawi
and other lesser known countries must have risen amongst passers-by.
The quality of the African stands seemed to benefit
from the new location. The historic large floor areas were becoming ever more
sparsely populated in recent years.
Fewer tour operators were taking space each year and any sense of
business being negotiated was dissipating.
Kenya was becoming subject to this sometimes desolate appearance. But this year the African stands were smaller
and looked busier as a result. The design
and appearance of the stands also seemed to be higher. They were certainly not
outshone by the traditional vast expenditure of the neighbouring Gulf stands.
Sudan was a newcomer.
Mali was there for a second time.
Many smaller countries, eg Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Swaziland were
present, the last struggling with its new name, ‘Eswatini’. Rwanda had a big presence, so too did
Tanzania. The latter needing the space
to display a huge picture of their new Boeing 787. Senegal had the most lively
and engaging representative; Senegalese herself and a Glasgow University
student she bubbled with enthusiasm for her country and for the WTM experience.
But, subjectively, the overall numbers seemed to have
again declined. Escalating stand costs
are regularly mentioned but the increasingly dated site itself has unchanging
shortcomings and could do with bringing into the 21st century. Access
via the DLR is far from an attractive welcome to London for attendees. Lunch is always a problem. Old fashioned
cafetarias ,extinct in most places, long queues, indifferent food, temporary
staff and woefully limited seating space.
WTM is primarily a networking event.
Attendees need to meet, talk and socialize informally as well as on
their stands and they need pleasant places to do it. The organization here
simply does not allow for this.
But the Palestine stand and its Banksys will stick in
the memory…
John Williams 9
November 2018
