Tourism bosses call for WTM to be cut to three days
Tourist offices worldwide are lobbying the organisers of World Travel Market to cut it from four days to three next year.
Their lobbying body, ANTOR, said over half of its members have voted to put pressure on Reed Exhibitions to shorten the event, based on a poll last week and a survey carried out just after last year’s show.
ANTOR said Reed has "worked hard to try and reinvent the final day of the show, but results have been slow in times when the economic return on investment is key".
"The results are not substantial enough to justify the extra day in terms of time lost, cost of accommodation and subsistence," it said.
"As a result, the efforts that WTM are putting in to attract visitors on the final day may leave visitors leaving feeling disappointed."
It said if other non-tourist board exhibitors wished to continue with four days, WTM could be reduced to a smaller show on the fourth day, perhaps maintaining just the Global Village and Technology area.
Last year WTM organisers said exhibitors who weren’t manning their stands on the fourth day faced extra charges when registering this year after agents complained many of the suppliers had left by the Thursday.
ANTOR is inviting anyone in the travel trade to take part on its online poll at website www.antor.com.
Bev
Editor in chief Bev Fearis has been a travel journalist for 25 years. She started her career at Travel Weekly, where she became deputy news editor, before joining Business Traveller as deputy editor and launching the magazine’s website. She has also written travel features, news and expert comment for the Guardian, Observer, Times, Telegraph, Boundless and other consumer titles and was named one of the top 50 UK travel journalists by the Press Gazette.
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