WTM AFRICA MEETS – AND EXCEEDS – 2019 NUMBERS
WTM Africa 2022 kickstarts the recovery of the travel and tourism industry in Africa
5 MAY 2022 – WTM Africa 2022, held from April 11 to 13 in Cape Town, South Africa, was a huge success with preliminary numbers indicating that pre-scheduled appointments for 2022 exceeded the number of appointments booked at the show in 2019.
WTM Africa 2022 facilitated over seven thousand unique pre-scheduled appointments (both online and in person), which saw an increase of more than 7% compared to 2019, while the number of visitors remained on par with 2019 figures, with more than six thousand visitors in 2022 according to the unaudited numbers – hugely positive for the WTM’s first in-person event post-pandemic and a fitting reflection of an industry that wants to get back to work.
“The 2022 edition of WTM Africa and Africa Travel Week was the first inbound and outbound travel trade show of this magnitude held on the African continent since the outbreak of the pandemic in 2022. The undeniable success of the show, as reflected in the preliminary numbers, is a clear indication that the industry was in desperate need of a face-to-face platform to reconnect, conclude deals and kickstart the recovery of the industry,” says Megan Oberholzer, Portfolio Director: Travel, Tourism, and Creative Industries, RX Africa.
WTM Africa featured 187 speakers in over 63 content sessions which highlighted important topics such as inclusivity, diversity, travel technology and investment. Exhibitors, speakers and buyers from both the inbound and outbound tourism and travel industry were invited to enable a platform of growth to and from the African continent. Twelve international countries were represented, 20 African countries and seven out of the nine South African provinces were present.
The vast majority (87%) of buyers were new buyers who had never been to Africa Travel Week before with buyers from established source markets as well as new source markets like Thailand, Malaysia and Japan. WTM Africa 2022 saw a great number of new exhibitors, including amongst others the National Tourism Board of Sierra Leone and the Korea Tourism Organisation, who all saw great value in the show and have expressed their interest to return to WTM Africa in 2023.
WTM Africa 2023 will take place between April 3 and 5, so mark your calendars.
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World Travel Market (WTM) Portfolio comprises leading travel events, online portals and virtual platforms across four continents, generating more than $7.5 billion of industry deals. The events are:
WTM Latin America takes place annually in São Paulo and attracts around 19,000 tourism professionals during a three-day event. The show offers qualified content, as well as networking and business opportunities. In its ninth edition – the first 100% virtual – WTM Latin America followed its focus on effective business generation and reached the milestone of 4,200 meetings held between buyers, travel agents and exhibitors.
Next event: Tuesday 4 to Thursday 6 April 2023 – SP, Brazil
WTM Africa launched in 2014 in Cape Town, South Africa. In 2022, WTM Africa facilitated more than 7 thousand unique pre-scheduled appointments, an increase of more than 7% compared to 2019 and welcomed more than 6 thousand visitors (unaudited), the same number as in 2019.
Next event: Monday 3 to Wednesday 5 April 2023 – Cape Town International Convention Centre, Cape Town http://africa.wtm.com/
About ATW Connect: Africa Travel Week’s digital arm, is a virtual hub packed to the seams with interesting content, industry news and insights, and the opportunity to hear from experts on a variety of topics in our new monthly webinar series. All with the aim to keep all of us in the travel and tourism industry connected. ATW Connect focuses on inbound and outbound markets for general leisure tourism, luxury travel, LGBTQ+ travel and the MICE/business travel sector as well as travel technology.
Arabian Travel Market (ATM), now on its 29th year, is the leading, international travel and tourism event in the Middle East for inbound and outbound tourism professionals. ATM 2021 showcased over 1,300 exhibiting companies from 62 countries across nine halls at Dubai World Trade Centre, with visitors from more than 140 countries over the four days. Arabian Travel Market is part of Arabian Travel Week. #IdeasArriveHere
Next in-person event: Sunday 8 to Wednesday 11 May 2022, Dubai World Trade Centre, Dubai
Next virtual event: Tuesday 17th and Wednesday 19th May 2022
https://www.wtm.com/atm/en-gb.html
Arabian Travel Week is a festival of events taking place within and alongside Arabian Travel Market 2022. Providing a renewed focus for the Middle East’s travel and tourism sector, it includes ATM Virtual, ILTM Arabia, Arival Dubai, Influencers’ events and activations, as well as Travel Forward. It also features the ATM Buyer Forums, ATM Speed Networking Events as well as a series of country summits.
https://www.wtm.com/arabian-travel-week/en-gb.html
WTM London, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend three-day exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. Around 50,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international media visit ExCeL London every November, generating over £3.71 billion in travel industry contracts.
Next live event: Monday 7 to 9 November 2022 at ExCel London
London Travel Week, brought to you by WTM London, is the one-stop-shop for event hosts and visitors to be able to shape the next 12 months of travel together. The festival of events supports the global travel and tourism industry through capturing invaluable news and enhancing industry connections.
Next event: Friday 4 November – Friday 11 November 2022 – Around London
https://londontravelweek.wtm.com/
WTM Global Hub, is the new WTM Portfolio online portal created to connect and support travel industry professionals around the world. The resource hub offers the latest guidance and knowledge to help exhibitors, buyers and others in the travel industry face the challenges of the global coronavirus pandemic. WTM Portfolio is tapping into its global network of experts to create content for the hub. https://hub.wtm.com/
About RX (Reed Exhibitions)
RX is in the business of building businesses for individuals, communities and organisations. We elevate the power of face to face events by combining data and digital products to help customers learn about markets, source products and complete transactions at over 400 events in 22 countries across 43 industry sectors. RX is passionate about making a positive impact on society and is fully committed to creating an inclusive work environment for all our people. RX is part of RELX, a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. www.rxglobal.com
RELX About RELX
RELX is a global provider of information-based analytics and decision tools for professional and business customers. The Group serves customers in more than 180 countries and has offices in about 40 countries. It employs over 33,000 people, of whom almost half are in North America. The shares of RELX PLC, the parent company, are traded on the London, Amsterdam and New York Stock Exchanges using the following ticker symbols: London: REL; Amsterdam: REN; New York: RELX. The market capitalisation is approximately £33bn, €39bn, $47bn.*
*Note: Current market capitalisation can be found at http://www.relx.com/investors