World Travel Market (WTM) opens Monday November 6 at the Excel Centre in London”s Docklands. This is the third show since its highly successful (and at the time controversial) move from Earl”s Court. Visitors arriving via London City Airport should not take the DLR, which is on a different route from Excel, but instead make use of the free shuttle bus service. For those ensconced on the light railway itself one suggestion is not to get off at Custom House station but to continue to Prince Regent instead. The Jubilee line is recommended as the quickest route from most points in London, changing at Canning Town.
It might feel a bit strange for some but the Central Boulevard has been made a ”No Smoking” zone. In the main exhibition halls delegates will be able to smoke freely. In 2007 a new UK government ban on smoking in public places will come into force, so puff if you must while you can.
World Travel Market is linked up with IATA, ChinaContract and Travolution to run three high profile conferences at this year”s event. On the airline front the key note address will be delivered by IATA”s director general and chief executive Giovanni Bisignani whose presentations on topics range from regulatory developments to collaborations and the future of travel intermediaries, as well as case studies from the likes of British Airways.
There is an impressive line up of speakers, including World Tourism Organisation secretary-general Francesco Frangialli; British Airways e-ticket implementer Alison Carse; Monarch Scheduled managing director Tim Jeans; Qatar Airways senior loyalty manager Iain Webster; flythomascook.com director Tony Milsom; Thai Airways executive vice-president commercial Wallop Bhukkanasut; Alitalia vice-president alliances and international relations Giorgio Callegar; hotels.com vice-president David Roche; and IATA director government and industry affairs Carlos Grau Tanner.
WTM includes the first pan-industry conference on bilateral tourism relations between China and Europe ” ”China: The Future of Travel”. Delegates to the conference will learn about China”s often complex cultural and business practices, smoothing the way for international travel and tourism to engage more productively and successfully with China in the Future. Topics to be covered will include the growth of Chinese tourism and its effect on Europe; the future of Chinese business tourism; investment opportunities and how to take advantage of them and China”s; as well as new products and destinations.
The third conference running at World Travel Market, concentrates on online travel organised with Travolution. ”[email protected] ” Covering Travel in the Digital World” brings together speakers from The Guardian to Google to address how the travel industry can benefit from new media in a consumer driven market.
Key speakers include BA.com general manager Carsten Willert; Google head of travel Europe Esteban Walther; O2 product manager for travel Nancy Lyndhurst; TripAdvisor European managing director Marc Charron and Travelsupermarket.com general manager and head of sales Chris Nixon.