Which travel expo's and conventions should you attend during the year? Are some better than others in terms of networking and engagement? Which ones may offer better opportunities as an independent travel blogger?
There's literally thousands of tourism expos and conferences every year around the world, catering to different segments of the industry, destinations / regions, and B2B or B2C.
As well as privately owned events (listed below) you'll find most countries have a national tourism expo, as well as local / regional tourism shows. They often split these into consumer and trade days.
For bloggers, there's a variety of content-creator events you can attend. However, there's no reason why you shouldn't attend a bigger convention like ITB or WTM (which have some blogger related sub-events) and learn more about the rest of the industry and how it works!
Here's a few events to give you some ideas:
ITB Berlin The biggest trade fair in the world, held annually in March. They also have ITB Asia in Singapore in November. www.itb.com/en/
👆 Here's a video walkthrough of ITB that @petra-v made a few years ago!
World Travel Market (WTM) Only second to ITB Berlin in terms of size, WTM London is hosted every November. They also host WTM Africa in Cape Town. www.wtm.com
IMEX imexevents.com A huge trade show for the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibition) held in Vegas and Frankfurt.
TravMedia IMM (International Media Marketplace) travmedia.com/imm/ Held in NYC, London, Singapore, Sydney, and other destinations — matching professional media with brands.
Skift Global Forum live.skift.com/skift-global-forum/ Held every year in New York, with focus on global trends, brands, and a bit of tech.
Phocuswright www.phocuswright.com/Events Has been around for decades, and mostly focused on travel tech and distribution.
retired - which still makes me laugh when I say that, OnlyACarryOn.com and ThePackingPrincess.com
That's a really good list, Ian. I would have been shocked had you left off ETF as Travel Massive is a collaborator. :-)
I was at the first ETF and to this day I regret that I did not do the special trip to South Sudan. This year's trip is Bhutan. The conference focus is centered around extreme travelers and UN Masters, but there is plenty of other information given by the speakers.
I am an introverted solo traveler and yet I made friends and contacts from all over - so it is great for networking.
I would like to specifically exclude TravelCon. It was a suburb event when Matt did it, and now it is an absolute disaster with no content. I was there with about 15 friends and none of us will be returning because it was so appallingly bad.
There were one or two morning keynote-type speakers telling the audience how they got where they were. All good at public speaking and keeping our interest.
And that was it.
The rest of the time we were to go into other large rooms and break into small groups to chat amongst ourselves on different topics. That's it. No closing session, no content, nothing. It was as if the organizers bought the event from Matt the month before and didn't have time to organize any content at all - though the social events were good.
It was a waste of time and money, and I wouldn't even bother with it - which is a shame because Matt had one of the best events out there.
Another I would like to mention (more for others) is the Women in Travel Summit. Other than the first one, I have been to the subsequent ten of them. Yes, it is female-centric, allies are welcomed. Lots of blogging and business content.
Definitely a good list over here In Europe, couldn't agree more about ITB Berlin and WTM London I would probably add a pretty big one with global coverage, even if more dedicated to Spanish Speaking countries: FITUR in Madrid, usually taking place in Jan. Maybe not as specific as some other to travellers as we can find pretty much anything tourism related but very wide range of exhibitors present.
Sustainable Corporate Events Facilitator, Team Spirit Thailand
It depends where you are, what your goals are and where you wish to develop your business/ yourself personally. I prefer smaller summits or events where you have a better chance of connecting and networking rather than the huge ones where everyone becomes a blur! Also, think of the impact the massive conferences have that are not yet aligning with responsible practices.
Food and travel writer/speaker/content creator, YouTube: @findingfoodfluency
I have some first-person experience that might help fellow Travel Massive members--
This year, I was invited to speak about gastronomy tourism at the Las Vegas Travel Agent Forum, and to moderate about the same at Arabian Travel Market (a regional version of WTM).
Travel agent attendees (mostly from the U.S.) at LVTAF get connected to destinations/brands through 1 - on - 1 meetings, one small expo, and through discussions and lightning round introductions. For example, Puerto Vallarta tourism reps held a presentation covering whatever they thought was most cogent, be it as a retirement spot, a place well-connected to U.S. airports, or a family-friendly place on the water.
Arabian Travel Market, which takes place in Dubai, is a giant B2B show showcasing Middle Eastern destinations (and destinations that are popular/want to be highlighted among MENA travelers), airlines, and hotels. In one wing, Saudi Arabian places such as Al Ula and Diriyah had big booths, in another there was Rotana, Jumeirah, and Marriott, and the third, Sakhartvelo (Georgia), Greece, and Macao, among others.
I've also attended IMM in New York. As useful as it can be to have a lot of PR folks, tour operators, and CVBs in one place, it's not so helpful if you tend to write about places outside of North America. There are other IMM in other countries, but because I'm based (?) in the U.S., that's the only one I can try.
The Travel & Adventure Show series (in the United States) is B2C, and offers attendees a chance to sit in on breakout sessions with big names in the industry, as well as grab pamphlets and swag from a number of domestic and international locales.
What Travel Expos and Conventions should you attend?
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Which travel expo's and conventions should you attend during the year? Are some better than others in terms of networking and engagement? Which ones may offer better opportunities as an independent travel blogger?
There's literally thousands of tourism expos and conferences every year around the world, catering to different segments of the industry, destinations / regions, and B2B or B2C.
As well as privately owned events (listed below) you'll find most countries have a national tourism expo, as well as local / regional tourism shows. They often split these into consumer and trade days.
For bloggers, there's a variety of content-creator events you can attend. However, there's no reason why you shouldn't attend a bigger convention like ITB or WTM (which have some blogger related sub-events) and learn more about the rest of the industry and how it works!
Here's a few events to give you some ideas:
ITB Berlin
The biggest trade fair in the world, held annually in March. They also have ITB Asia in Singapore in November.
www.itb.com/en/
👆 Here's a video walkthrough of ITB that @petra-v made a few years ago!
World Travel Market (WTM)
Only second to ITB Berlin in terms of size, WTM London is hosted every November. They also host WTM Africa in Cape Town.
www.wtm.com
IMEX
imexevents.com
A huge trade show for the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences, Exhibition) held in Vegas and Frankfurt.
TravMedia IMM (International Media Marketplace)
travmedia.com/imm/
Held in NYC, London, Singapore, Sydney, and other destinations — matching professional media with brands.
Skift Global Forum
live.skift.com/skift-global-forum/
Held every year in New York, with focus on global trends, brands, and a bit of tech.
Phocuswright
www.phocuswright.com/Events
Has been around for decades, and mostly focused on travel tech and distribution.
World Aviation Festival
worldaviationfestival.com
An event around aviation distribution and tech.
Travel and Adventure Show
travelshows.com
A consumer focused exhibition (mainly for selling) with events across major cities in the US.
Tourism Innovation Summit
www.tisglobalsummit.com
Held every year in Seville, Spain — travel tech, brands, startups.
TBEX
tbexcon.com
The OG of travel blogging conferences, held in various destinations each year.
TravelCon
travelcon.org
Recently relaunched with a focus on professional content creators.
Extraordinary Travel Festival
www.extraordinarytravelfest.com
A conference for extreme travelers (e.g. people going to every country, etc)
so insightful resources, thanks so much Ian
That's a really good list, Ian. I would have been shocked had you left off ETF as Travel Massive is a collaborator. :-)
I was at the first ETF and to this day I regret that I did not do the special trip to South Sudan. This year's trip is Bhutan. The conference focus is centered around extreme travelers and UN Masters, but there is plenty of other information given by the speakers.
I am an introverted solo traveler and yet I made friends and contacts from all over - so it is great for networking.
I would like to specifically exclude TravelCon. It was a suburb event when Matt did it, and now it is an absolute disaster with no content. I was there with about 15 friends and none of us will be returning because it was so appallingly bad.
There were one or two morning keynote-type speakers telling the audience how they got where they were. All good at public speaking and keeping our interest.
And that was it.
The rest of the time we were to go into other large rooms and break into small groups to chat amongst ourselves on different topics. That's it. No closing session, no content, nothing. It was as if the organizers bought the event from Matt the month before and didn't have time to organize any content at all - though the social events were good.
It was a waste of time and money, and I wouldn't even bother with it - which is a shame because Matt had one of the best events out there.
Another I would like to mention (more for others) is the Women in Travel Summit. Other than the first one, I have been to the subsequent ten of them. Yes, it is female-centric, allies are welcomed. Lots of blogging and business content.
Definitely a good list over here
In Europe, couldn't agree more about ITB Berlin and WTM London
I would probably add a pretty big one with global coverage, even if more dedicated to Spanish Speaking countries: FITUR in Madrid, usually taking place in Jan. Maybe not as specific as some other to travellers as we can find pretty much anything tourism related but very wide range of exhibitors present.
It depends where you are, what your goals are and where you wish to develop your business/ yourself personally.
I prefer smaller summits or events where you have a better chance of connecting and networking rather than the huge ones where everyone becomes a blur!
Also, think of the impact the massive conferences have that are not yet aligning with responsible practices.
Going to IFTM 2024 in Paris next month. Has anyone been to that one before? Thoughts?
I’d recommend WTM, Meet The Media (Ireland), Trav Media IMM, and Media Getaway.
This year, I'm attending Extraordinary Travel Festival (www.extraordinarytravelfest.com), Black Travel Summit (blacktravelsummit.com), Nomadness Fest (nomadnessfest.com) and WITS Travel Creator Summit (witsummit.com)
I have some first-person experience that might help fellow Travel Massive members--
This year, I was invited to speak about gastronomy tourism at the Las Vegas Travel Agent Forum, and to moderate about the same at Arabian Travel Market (a regional version of WTM).
Travel agent attendees (mostly from the U.S.) at LVTAF get connected to destinations/brands through 1 - on - 1 meetings, one small expo, and through discussions and lightning round introductions. For example, Puerto Vallarta tourism reps held a presentation covering whatever they thought was most cogent, be it as a retirement spot, a place well-connected to U.S. airports, or a family-friendly place on the water.
Arabian Travel Market, which takes place in Dubai, is a giant B2B show showcasing Middle Eastern destinations (and destinations that are popular/want to be highlighted among MENA travelers), airlines, and hotels. In one wing, Saudi Arabian places such as Al Ula and Diriyah had big booths, in another there was Rotana, Jumeirah, and Marriott, and the third, Sakhartvelo (Georgia), Greece, and Macao, among others.
I've also attended IMM in New York. As useful as it can be to have a lot of PR folks, tour operators, and CVBs in one place, it's not so helpful if you tend to write about places outside of North America. There are other IMM in other countries, but because I'm based (?) in the U.S., that's the only one I can try.
The Travel & Adventure Show series (in the United States) is B2C, and offers attendees a chance to sit in on breakout sessions with big names in the industry, as well as grab pamphlets and swag from a number of domestic and international locales.
I would also reccomend Arabian Travel Market in Dubai. Huge show and lots of networking opportunities with travel brands from around the world.
I’d love to stick around and find out everyone’s answers