Monday 12 November 2018


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