by Aaron Greenwood, Travel Daily UK (Excerpt)

19,000 delegates attended the 80 conferences and events

World Travel Market London 2016’s Conference and Event programme experienced a 5% increase, taking the number of attendees to a record of almost 19,000.

WTM London 2016 hosted more than 80 conferences and events with a total attendance of 18,901 – compared to 18,097 at WTM London 2016.

Furthermore, the number of unique delegates attending the sessions increased by a massive 11% to smash through the 10,000 barrier (10,027). The unique attendees figure is almost 1,000 delegates more than the 2015 figure of 9,027. The number of unique attendees to the WTM London Conference programme continues to grow with 8,829 in 2014, 8,482 in 2013 and in 2012 it stood at 7,494.

The conference and events programme included sessions on aviation, hospitality, sports tourism, technology, digital, wellness and responsible tourism and featured some of the biggest names in the industry […]

Industry expert Doug Lansky and digital futurist Brian Solis were the keynote speakers. Furthermore, it was the tenth editions of two pillars of the WTM London events programme – WTM World Responsible Tourism Day and the UNWTO and WTM Ministers’ Summit.

The increase in attendance at the Conference and Seminar programme is part of the wider success story of WTM London 2016, which saw a joint-record 51,500 delegates attend the new three day format event. WTM London is predicted to facilitate more than £2.5 billion in industry deals from more than 865,500 on-stand meetings.

WTM London, Conference and Seminar Manager, Charlotte Sutton said: “The WTM London Conference and Seminar programme was a great success with a record number of unique and overall attendees listening and learning from high profile speakers from both inside and outside the travel and tourism industry.”

WTM London, Senior Director, Simon Press, said: “The new-look three-day World Travel Market London 2016 surpassed even our own expectations, with a joint-record 51,500 delegates in attendance and a record number of attendees at the Conference and Events sessions.”