LONDON, 30 November 2018: WTM London 2018 and its co-located sister event, Travel Forward, reported a 6% increase in visitors driven by an increase in senior travel professionals based on unaudited figures.
The head count includes attendance at WTM and the new travel technology event, Travel Forward, plus exhibitor invitees, WTM Buyers’ Club members and trade visitors.
The unaudited count stood at 32,700, a figure that included 2,700 international media and was described as all-time record surpassing 2014’s 32,462.
Growth was attributed to a massive 39% increase in exhibitor invitee visitors according to show owner Reed Exhibitions.
This group included important and senior professionals in the travel and tourism industry, invited by exhibitors on the invite-only first day of the event.
A total of 17,567 exhibitor invitees attended WTM London across all three days of the event (Monday 5 November to 7 Wednesday 7 November), compared to 12,662 at the 2017 edition.
The turnstile counters clocked 88,742 visits over the three days. Based on visitors passing the turnstiles the first day of the event (5 November) the tally stood at 27,240, on 6 November 38,035 and on the final day (7 November) 23,467.
The event was also visited by 9,325 member of the WTM Buyers’ Club and alongside exhibitor invitees these visitors may have signed deals with exhibitors worth more than UKP3 billion, based on the organiser’s claims.
Audited figures from WTM London 2018 will be available in the New Year.
WTM London 2019, the 40th edition, will take place at ExCeL, London, Monday 4 to Wednesday 6 November.
