The first 100% virtual edition of WTM Latin America, which took place from August 10 to 13, 2021, exceeded all the expectations of its organizers.
The event, which was expected to reach 2,500 appointments between exhibitors, buyers, travel agents, press and other participants, reached the 4,200 meeting mark. In addition, it had to be extended to one more day, Friday, August 13, due to the high demand for appointments.
This year’s event had more than 4,400 professionals registered as visitors ‒58% from Brazil and 42% from abroad‒; with 1,301 travel agents; 365 buyers ‒including members of the Buyers’ Club and Hosted Buyers‒; and 800 exhibitors representing 360 companies from 19 countries. More than 200 professionals from the national and international press and digital influencers also signed up to participate.
Focused on generating effective business, the platform offered a concierge service for meeting monitoring and effectiveness, which resulted in more than 4,100 meeting evaluations with an average of 4.6 stars (out of 5 stars).
‘The concierge service was one of the points that we dedicated ourselves to and we wanted to offer to all the participants to ensure that this year’s event was a success. We are happy to have been able to use technology to our advantage and give this impetus to the resumption of travel ‘, says Thais Del Ben, Marketing Manager of WTM Latin America.
Poland was one of the countries that held virtual meetings on the WTM Latin America platform and considers that it will obtain good results from them. “My co-exhibitors are very satisfied, they have had several appointments and are looking forward to new business,” says Dorota Zadrozna, Project Manager for Poland.
According to Corey Garrett, Director of Caribbean and Latin America at Barbados Tourism Marketing Inc., ‘People are looking to visit the Caribbean to focus on wellness and nature travel after COVID-19, and WTM Latin America has created an opportunity to create packages consisting of hotel and attraction rates. ‘
‘We present new initiatives to WTM Latin America participants, such as the Barbados Welcome Seal, one of the measures the country took to encourage tourism, our Sweet Summer Savings businesses and the BIMSafe application, which facilitates the entry process and monitoring of Covid -19 on the island. We had an excellent event, ‘adds Garrett.
Those who participated in the virtual event could also take advantage of the 30 panels with exclusive content and 69 speakers. Among them, important names in the tourism industry such as the Deputy Minister of Egypt, Ghada Shalaby; Edmund Bartlett, Jamaica’s Minister of Tourism; Haris Theoharis, Minister of Tourism of Greece; and the Secretary of State for Tourism of Portugal, Rita Marques. In addition to Helena Bononi, WTTC Vice President of Business and Affiliation; Cibele Moulin, from Dubai, and the opening of Pedro Andrade, a journalist recently hired by CNN.
‘Mato Grosso do Sul made excellent meetings and important contacts, in addition to achieving a lot of visibility during WTM Latin America Virtual. And it could not be different, since the event was a success and one of the most important in the sector in Latin America ‘, highlights Karla Cavalcanti, Director of Promotion and Market of the Mato Grosso do Sul Tourism Foundation, FundturMS.
For Simon Mayle, director of WTM Latin America, ‘the first WTM Latin America Virtual was a fantastic event not only in the Latin American region, but throughout the world. The event promoted the revival of the tourism industry and customer satisfaction and the numbers show it. ‘
Mayle added that ‘this was my first WTM Latin America and I am very proud of all that we achieved together. Congratulations to the WTM Latin America team for promoting an event with content and for giving the tourism sector the opportunity to reconnect in search of a prosperous future. I look forward to WTM Latin America 2022, which will take place in person from April 5 to 7 ‘.
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