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For the first time in four decades, WTM London becomes WTM Virtual as the travel industry is encouraged to Recover, Rebuild and Innovate in response to the Covid-19 pandemic. Here’s how this year’s event is taking shape
After 40 years of travel industry delegates arriving at the capital’s airports and train stations in their tens of thousands for WTM London, the annual event is going virtual for 2020.
Running on Greenwich Mean Time, the newly branded WTM Virtual and Travel Forward Virtual will take place between 7am and 10pm from 9-11 November this year, featuring online meetings, live conferences, watch-on-demand sessions, roundtables, forums, destination briefings and press conferences.
In order to gain access to WTM Virtual and Travel Forward Virtual, attendees need to register online for their “badges” and complete their profile on the WTM London Exhibitor Portal. They will then receive an email containing unique login details for the custom-built platform, which was unveiled on 16 October.
Once registered and logged in (Google Chrome is the recommended browser), attendees will find a host of business-building tools designed to connect buyers, trade and media with exhibiting suppliers.
The WTM Virtual platform has been designed specifically to help delegates generate new ideas, showcase their products or services and build new contacts. The conference sessions, debates and forums taking place on the platform will be hosted by industry experts and cover a wide range of topics spanning aviation, hospitality, resilience, sustainability and, of course, recovery in a post-Covid world.
Product Showcases will serve the purpose of virtual booths throughout the event and comprise a landing page, virtual business cards termed Product Cards, a booking function for one-to-one meetings, links to external locations such as company websites and social media channels, and contact-sharing functionality. Exhibitors will be treating their Product Showcases as they would their physical stands in previous years.
Meanwhile, the new platform’s networking tool Connect Me allows delegates to book meetings with buyers, trade, media and fellow exhibitors all in one place. It has a search functionality filterable by products and services and a matching-making tool based on business needs to assist attendees in expanding their travel industry connections.
These video meetings can facilitate up to eight participants from two different companies and are limited to 30 minutes, during which computer screens can be shared and virtual business cards exchanged. There is also a drop-in area on the platform where attendees can request ad-hoc meetings on the day and a system in place to send meeting participants reminders 20 minutes prior to start time.
While WTM Virtual doesn’t officially start until 9 November, excitement begins on 30 October when the second London Travel Week will take place – also virtually – after the success of last year’s physical events.
The seven-day festival invites travel professionals and travel enthusiasts to a series of more than 20 online conferences, summits, awards ceremonies and destination briefings.
Highlights include Diversifying Travel Marketing: How can brands connect with an increasingly diverse consumer market? on 30 October, the World Travel Leaders Awards on 2 November and the London Travel Week Virtual Content Creators Summit on 3 November.
Intended to further aid the recovery of travel around the world, all London Travel Week events are included in the £25 trade ticket price for WTM Virtual and Travel Forward Virtual. Buyers and media enter for free.
For more information, visit:
The WTM Buyers’ Club comprises around 5,000 senior buyers and decision makers from around the world. This year, these delegates will be able to reconnect with valuable contacts, conduct business and develop partnerships in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic – when these connections matter more than ever. Such pre-approved delegates will receive free access to the interactive event platform where they can schedule video meetings and network with exhibitors during WTM Virtual and Travel Forward Virtual.
Find out more at london.wtm.com/buyers
Andalućia, Premier Partner for WTM Virtual, will be supporting 40 co-exhibitors from the Spanish region at the November event. This comes after the government allocated €300 million to help its tourism sector recover from the impacts of Covid-19, including measures to make restaurants, accommodation and other establishments safe for visitors.
The tourist board will use its Premier Partner status to promote its new international slogan: If you love to travel, you’ll love Andalućia. The sponsorship deal is also part of Andalućia’s almost €9 million international marketing campaign, which features Andalućian star Antonio Banderas as an ambassador to help woo visitors back.
Tourism accounts for about 12% of Andalućia’s GDP and employs more than 400,000 people in the region, with Great Britain being its biggest overseas source market, sending 2.3 million tourists each year, followed by Germany (1.1 million) and France (1 million).
Andalućia will run a WTM Virtual Destination Briefing on Monday 9 November at 1pm
