Πιέσεις για "σμίκρυνση" της WTM

Το θέμα της περικοπής της τέταρτης ημέρας της WTM, τέθηκε αμέσως μετά την ολοκλήρωση της εφετινής έκθεσης στο Λονδίνο, καθώς την ημέρα αυτή το Excel ήταν άδειο!!!

Παράγοντες της τουριστικής βιομηχανίας εκτιμούν ότι τρεις ημέρες είναι υπεραρκετές για τους σκοπούς της έκθεσης, των εκθετών και των επισκεπτών.

Σύμφωνα με τους διοργανωτές η WTM 2014 σημείωσε ρεκόρ όλων των εποχών, ωστόσο φωτογραφίες από το πρωί της Πέμπτης δείχνουν μια μάλλον απογοητευτική εικόνα.

Χρησιμοποιώντας έναν ιδιωματισμό του 14ου αιώνα ο Graham McKenzie του Travelmole είπε ότι επικρατούσε τόση νέκρα όσο ένα καρφί σε μια πόρτα, ενώ η Sarah Johnson από την Lotus UK, που είχε 10 πελάτες στην έκθεση υπογράμμισε ότι θα ήταν πιο αποτελεσματική μια τριήμερη διοργάνωση, συμπληρώνοντας: "Από την Δευτέρα μέχρι την Τετάρτη ήρθε περισσότερος κόσμος απ' ότι αναμενόταν, αλλά την Πέμπτη ήταν εξαιρετικά ήσυχα. Όχι μόνο από εκθέτες, αφού πολλά περίπτερα ήταν άδεια, αλλά και από επισκέπτες".

Ένα πολύ ενδιαφέρον ρεπορτάζ από το Travelmole ακολουθεί:
Pressure is being renewed to cut World Travel Market down to three days after a noticeable drop in people at the show yesterday. Photographs posted on Facebook last night showed unmanned stands and empty chairs at the London Excel show, despite organisers claiming that 2014 was set to be a record year.These photos were taken at around 11.30am on Thursday morning and, according to those who stuck around, it got even quieter later on. "By midday it was as dead as a doornail," said TravelMole's Graham McKenzie. Sarah Johnson at Lotus UK, who had 10 clients exhibiting at the show, said she agreed it would work more effectively as a three-day show. "The general feeling was that the numbers were higher than expected Monday to Wednesday but Thursday was extremely quiet," she said. "Not just visitors, but many stands were empty, exhibitors had gone!" The Tourism Authority of Thailand London said this year's show had once again proved how quiet Thursday is. "It has been a struggle for some years to encourage our co-exhibitors to attend the fourth and final day as it provides little value for them when they can comfortably complete their business, and meet relevant buyers in the first few days of the show," said a spokeswoman. "Despite various activities running on our stand we didn't see a satisfactory increase in engagement this year. It is becoming increasingly difficult to justify the costs involved with running the stand on Thursday when we see no return on investment for either TAT or our exhibitors." Following a similar situation on the fourth day of last year's show, other tourist offices urged WTM organisers to cut the event from four days to three. Their lobbying body, ANTOR, said over half of its members had voted to put pressure on Reed Exhibitions to shorten the event, based on a poll and a survey carried out just after last year's show. A spokeswoman for ANTOR said it had conducted a survey yesterday about the number of stand sharers and visitors attending and the reasons they were there, and was now collating the responses. A poll by TravelMole in April showed that 70% of readers believed it would be better if the show was only three days long.
After last year, WTM organisers said exhibitors who were not at the show on the fourth day faced extra charges this year. WTM organisers were not available for comment this morning but yesterday they released encouraging visitor figures for the first two and a half days of this year's show.
According to unaudited figures, there was a 7% increase in visitors, including buyers, on the Monday, Tuesday and up to 1pm on Wednesday. They said figures pointed to a record year for the event but they have not yet released figures for the full four days. Last week, TravelMole ran another poll asking readers if WTM was as relevant as it was 10 years. It found a third of you agreed that it was as relevant, but two thirds of you said it was not.

Kαι ένα ακόμη:

ANTOR members are calling for a three-day event at World Travel Market in line with other travel trade shows like WTM Africa and WTM Latin America. The Association of National Tourist Offices and Representatives, together with Reed Exhibitions, attempted to boost numbers on day 4 this year with a new event involving TV producers after complaints last year that many stands were left unmanned. But a poll of ANTOR, PATA (Asia), LATA (Latin America), ATTA (Africa) and SKAL members following the exhibition has shown a strong preference for the event to be reduced to three days. The association claims that the first two and a half days of World Travel Market 2014, experienced an impressive 7% unaudited, increase in visitors, including buyers, a total 82,213 visits compared to 78,035 at 1pm on the third day of the 2013 event. But 60% of respondents to the survey said they did not meet the contacts they had hoped to see on the Thursday and of these respondents 80% added that the exhibition would be even more successful run as a three day event. Survey results claimed an average of one-third of total exhibiting partners attended on the Thursday with some respondents reporting less than one-fifth. Nigel Vere Nicoll Chief Executive of ATTA (The African Travel & Tourism Association) said: "The first three days were well attended but the anticipated improvement in attendance on Thursday did not materialise. "Africa was dead, with no sign of buyers and sparsely manned stands; indeed the pictures circulated across the web tell the tale. Many of our exhibiting members, across differing stands in the Africa section commented that the cost and waste of this fourth day, giving no return whatsoever, is substantial and in no way sustainable. "Indaba, Africa's leading tourism event held in Durban, reduced to three days last year, a move that the industry welcomed. Our members urge the organisers of WTM to do the same or face an erosion of exhibitors to other more cost effective options". Chris Lee Chairman of PATA UK, said: "Only 3 of Thailand's 80 co-exhibitors attended on Thursday with just a handful of appointments between them - with this in mind, many of our members will not be able to justify keeping the stand open if they continue with a 4th day next year".