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Numbers are up!
Perhaps the most immediate takeaway from World Travel Market (WTM) in London this year was the feeling of confidence once again surging through the show. It is hard to deny the past two or three stagings of the event have lacked a little of the usual dynamism, but it was there in spades for 2024.
WTM reported seven per cent growth in exhibitor numbers, with over 4,000 global tourism boards, hoteliers, transport services, technology brands, associations and experiences planning to take to the halls of Excel London for three days of business. If confirmed at the close of the event, this will be more than ever before.
At the same time, provisional figures show 40,000 travel professionals will attend this time around – and all this means real value for the sector. It’s estimated in excess of £2.2 billion worth of deals will be signed this year at the event.
London is also set to benefit.
According to VisitBritain data, international delegates visiting the UK for a trade show on average spend £352 per day, which estimates a total visitor spend of £71 million for WTM. In a recent report from Deloitte, the consultants suggested that for every £1,000 spent, a further £1,800 is generated in direct tourism gross value, totalling an impressive £200 million injection from WTM into the economy, organisers claim.
Blended travel tops agenda for 2025
So, what were the thousands of industry leaders in attendance discussing?
More than half of experts responding to Tourism Economics’ Travel Industry Monitor 2024 survey for the WTM Global Travel Report cited blended leisure and business travel as a tourism growth opportunity, making it the top niche mentioned.
Business travel’s performance has been “something of a surprise relative to prior expectations,” the report notes. The post-pandemic persistence of online meetings and events was expected to cause its decline. Instead, in person meets are “still highly valued” and business overnights and spending have surpassed previous peaks. The report notes business travel is being built largely around business events.
This chimes with what Fire on the Hill has heard from our partners at the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA), which has revealed business travel continued to thrive this year, despite economic headwinds.
Significantly, business travellers are staying longer and spending more per trip. While the volume of international business visits currently remains six per cent below pre-pandemic levels, the number of overnights are three per cent above that 2019 benchmark.
Bright future
Elsewhere, the rise of global tourism seems assured.
By 2030, overnight arrivals (i.e. international visitors staying at least one night) are projected to have grown by over 30 per cent to two billion, aided by emerging outbound markets. Spend is also rising. Global leisure tourism expenditure in 2024 is now worth over US$5.5 trillion, a level 24 per cent above 2019 values.
Most significantly, consumers appear to be prioritising travel, with it accounting for a greater share of their spending in the major advanced economies than in the ten years pre-pandemic.
Overall, according to Tourism Economics data, travel spending as a percentage of consumer spending reached 8.8 per cent in 2024, compared to an average 8.2 per cent between 2010 and 2019. Even in markets such as Asia Pacific where some destinations, notably China, have lagged the wider tourism recovery, travel as a share of consumer spending is returning close to the heights of 2019.
Leave no trace
In order to reduce the impact of all those trips on the planet, there is a need for industry standardisation and government support, according to a panel entitled ‘the Collaborative Journey to Net Positive Tourism’.
André Russ, vice president, business development and sales for EarthCheck, said the industry needed to “take some decisive action on how we actually refine what is travel”.
Technology was also a theme picked up by Peter Krueger, chief strategy officer and CEO, Holiday Experiences for TUI Group, who outlined the successful introduction of solar panels across its own hotels in Turkey. This had not only had the positive impact of reducing emissions but also lowered the cost of energy from 12-15 cents an hour to seven cents, he told the audience in London.
He pointed out the group had secured government buy in for permission to erect the solar panels and hook them up to the grid. Of the more global picture he commented: “What is holding us back right now is destination governments.”
Among existing destination initiatives, the session heard how the Japan National Tourism Organisation has shared community tourism successes to help other areas. It has also employed technology to enable tourists to see how busy popular sites are in real time, and to match those interested to voluntourism opportunities on farms.
As always, there was a wealth of information on all imaginable topics this year – and it is great to find the preeminent global trade show rediscovering its mojo.
Image: World Travel Market
