World Travel Market London is to go ahead as planned in November this year, organisers have confirmed.
The 2020 event, at the ExCel centre in London, will take place over the course of three days from November 2-4.
Organisers said they will be following the UK government’s public health guidelines in order to keep visitors safe.
The venue had been used as one of the UK’s Nightingale Hospitals to support medical efforts relating to Covid-19 but has since been stood down as the number of new confirmed cases falls.
WTM London’s senior exhibition director Simon Press confirmed the event, which attracted more than 30,000 visitors last year, will go ahead.
He said: “Exhibitions are a huge part of the global effort to drive business growth and economic recovery. As anyone who has ever attended WTM London knows, it’s a fun, lively, well-regarded and highly efficient event that brings everyone together – an opportunity for the world to meet, get inspired, do business and generate wealth.
“Now, more than ever before, WTM London will be so important to restarting the global travel and tourism industry, on which the livelihoods of so many people depend.
“It’s also essential to highlight that the safety and wellbeing of our guests remains our highest priority and we will continue to follow the advice of the UK Government and Public Health England.
IPW still in Vegas
Las Vegas will now welcome IPW May 10-14 of 2021, and Chicago, which had been slated for 2021, has graciously agreed to serve as our host site in 2025.
Malcolm Smith, General Manager, IPW said, “We greatly appreciate the flexibility of our upcoming host cities. Other scheduled locations for IPW (Orlando in 2022, San Antonio in 2023, Los Angeles in 2024) remain unchanged.”
“When we meet next May, we’ll be convening in the newly constructed West Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center following its major expansion.
It’s difficult to express how much U.S. Travel, together with premier sponsor Brand USA and our hosts, Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Travel Nevada, look forward to welcoming the global travel community next year. It will be a moment of rebuilding and reconnecting—and there will be much work to do coupled with much excitement when we’re together again,” added Smith.
“This is incredibly welcome good news amid the serious challenges facing the travel industry, the country and the world,” said U.S. Travel Association President and CEO Roger Dow. “Cancelling this year’s IPW was a difficult though clearly necessary call, and our future host cities came together to achieve a win-win outcome for the future of the event.”
Dow continued: “As we look to recover from this health emergency and the resulting economic crisis, it is fitting that we will be able to hold IPW in Las Vegas, a city that epitomizes the economic power of travel and tourism. We are deeply grateful to Chicago, which had one of the most successful IPWs in recent memory as a first-time host in 2014, for their flexibility, generosity and collaborative spirit.”
