3,000 Meetings at WTM
Tourism Ireland, together with 75 tourism businesses from across the island of Ireland, had a significant presence at World Travel Market in London. WTM is the largest B2B event in the global travel and tourism calendar and heralds the beginning of Ireland’s promotional drive overseas for 2025.
Pictured are Siobhan McManamy and Judith Cassidy, both Tourism Ireland, and David Cleary, EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum.
During the event around 3,000 commercial meetings were conducted on the Ireland stand. The tourism businesses from Ireland – from diverse hotels, whiskey distillery experiences and activity providers, to visitor attractions and hidden gems of heritage – engaged in meetings with British and international tour operators to negotiate and exchange vital contracts for 2025 and beyond.
Knowing that additional hotel space has been a big ask by international tour operators, Tourism Ireland showcased diverse hotel groups, with 2-3% more rooms available this year.
Alice Mansergh, chief executive of Tourism Ireland, said:
“Our presence at World Travel Market is extremely important to kick-start our promotional drive overseas for the year ahead. We are targeting visitors who do more, see more, enjoy more – and therefore spend more – during their time in Ireland, to help tourism businesses across our island thrive.”
The Ireland stand included a spectacular installation featuring flora and other materials related to Ireland and consists entirely of Irish planting (gorse, heathers etc). The installation is designed by Worm, a floral design studio in East London which is owned by two Irish women.