The WTM is a four-day event held at the ExCel Centre, London Docklands. Exhibitors and visitors from across the Earth gather here to market and sell their services and destinations, as well as coming together to make new and promising partnerships. Now, I might be a weirdo for saying this, but I really did enjoy going to the event - it's the second time I've been. I know it's a lot of work, but I'm fascinated by all the locations and businesses that attend. The floorplan is split into continents - with additional sections dedicated to web and technology services, and a media village.
It's a goldmine and invaluable experience when learning about destinations one has heard of and discovering the existence of others. I was barely interested in visiting Macau, but since I stopped by the stand and learnt more about it's history, I just have to go visit it at some point. Okay, I know this is 'Eye on Richmond' and I'm supposed to be writing about the goings-on in the Borough and the activities of Destination Richmond, but it doesn't hurt to deviate from that now and then - adds flavour, and besides, we did attend in an exhibitor's capacity.
The VisitBritain and UKInbound stand
Bruce Lyons (MD) manning the Destination Richmond table
Our table was at the UKInbound stand - we're members of the group - and there were a number of exhibitors sharing the space. As seen from the two images, it was quite busy - another thing to remember when going to a high-profile event, there's bound to be a great number of attendees which makes navigating a room quite tricky. We had some interest and generated more by wandering around visiting other stands, though it was quite surprising to find out that quite a few of the people who attended had offices and may have resided in the Borough at some point.
I look forward to next year!
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