Fiona Jeffrey, Chairman of the World Travel Market (WTM), kicked off this November’s event with a stark inventory of obstacles: “Terrorism, the fear of terrorism, volcanic ash, climate change, floods, earthquakes and other natural disasters, government austerity measures, belt tightening by consumers, tax hikes, industrial action, the fragile confidence of travelers plus the worst global economic downturn in living memory?”
You’d forgive travel industry participants if they’d chosen to hide under their beds at home instead of attending the 31st WTM. Instead 45,571 of them, including 24,402 exhibitors from 5,121 exhibiting companies, 141 government ministers and 2,839 members of the international media, flocked to the four day event at the ExCel arena in London’s Docklands. But then, Jeffrey wondered, “What serious player could afford to stay away from the travel and tourism industry’s premier global event?” And despite current challenges, the industry still claims to employ 235 million people worldwide and to generate nearly ten per cent of global GDP.
Among WTM 2010's highlights was a Tourism Minister’s Summit, including first time attendances by delegates from Iraq and China; WTM World Responsible Tourism Day; a world sports program with representatives from some of the UK’s most iconic sporting venues, including Lord’s Cricket Ground, Wimbledon’s All England LTC and Wembley Stadium, and speakers from the 2010 Olympic Committee and the Canadian 2010 Winter Olympics; Travel and Online Technology, one of the WTM’s fastest-growing areas; and WTM Business Day with advice clinics and workshops to help travel companies through the current economic climate.
Trends & Opportunities
The biggest consumer trend to impact the travel and tourism industry will be the booking of holidays on mobile phones and other new technologies, a survey of 1200 senior travel executives at WTM revealed. Nearly two-thirds expect “booking holidays using new technologies” to be a major consumer trend over the next five years, by far the largest response. Nearly a quarter see technological advances as the biggest single opportunity over the next five years. Mobile communication, in a separate category altogether, is specified by one-in-ten as the biggest single opportunity.
WTM research, in association with Euromonitor International, suggested that the use of smartphones in Europe could see manufacturers and developers take over from search engines as the industry’s most important technology players. This trend is likely to displace giants such as Google as consumers increasingly view social media such as Facebook as a portal to access all their information as well as seek to access travel via purpose built applications.
Stats
The global travel and tourism industry has grown at a stronger than expected rate this year, but this will be at the expense of 2011, the World Travel & Tourism Council forecast. The latest WTTC figures, revealed at WTM, show that travel and tourism’s gross domestic product is expected to rise by 2 percent this year, compared with a forecast in January of only 0.5 percent. The spurt has led the WTTC to downgrade its 2011 growth forecast from 3.2 percent to 2.7 percent
WTM 2010 visitor numbers were significantly higher than at WTM 2009.
Onsite unaudited figures showed a 21 per cent increases in visitors with 6,665 senior industry buyers attending WTM 2010 on the first day.
Summing up, WTA Chairman Fiona Jeffery praised the industry for never “buckling” under the strain of the many challenges thrown its way and for continuing to show backbone and professionalism in the face of adversity.