Losardo, a trade show veteran, took up her post in February 2022 as the event prepared to reconvene following the pandemic. Last year was not the time to try anything new, but she has used the time to learn, in doing so developing a taste for the industry.
"I’m a trade show expert, but I’ve never worked in travel," says Losardo. "I’ve never worked in a sector so close to consumers and I was surprised how passionate travel people are, they genuinely love what they do. It’s the most fun sector – I’m definitely a convert.
"Last year was my first time and I thought about the scale and impact travel has on the world. At the Ministers’ Summit, there were several hundred people that had the potential to have an enormous impact.”
This led to a theme for this year’s event, Power to Change, which she feels should be part of the industry’s ambition. “Our reach in travel is so broad – whether you’re in sustainability or aviation, you can do something. It’s about asking yourself, ’what is my power to change?’. That’s something that runs throughout our stages this year.”
To this end, a major innovation has been to absorb WTM’s Responsible Tourism programme into a Sustainability Summit. “It broadens it out to the different ways people can be sustainable,” she enthuses.
The Responsible Tourism awards, though, have been canned, not least because - as Losardo points out - flying across the world to collect one is not very responsible. “We feel it [sustainability] should be part of everyone’s day-to-day responsibility.”
The Ministers’ Summit remains but moves to Monday and in its traditional Tuesday morning slot on the main stage is now the Diversity and Inclusion Summit.
How attendees experience the event more generally has also been looked at. External consultants were brought in to examine visitor behaviour, which has led to changes for this year. The first hour of each day will be unscheduled, allowing attendees to wander and meet exhibitors who would otherwise be in meetings.
This, Losardo feels, will appeal to new attendees not part of WTM veteran cliques. Cliques, though – she insists – are not a negative: “They exist because people love travel and have worked in it for years. [But] last year, 29% were first timers, who are they going to talk to?”
To encourage mixing, conference sessions will feature roundtables rather than rows of seats where possible. In addition, Monday will see end of day networking parties in the new Community Hubs in the North and South halls.
The show’s layout has also been improved. To remove bottlenecks, a WTM Highway around the perimeter will speed flow and bring more visitors to outer stands, it is hoped.
’Human contact’
In another change, marketing for the 2023 event began nine months ago, rather than the traditional 10 weeks. “We found some attendees began planning meetings in March," Losardo explains. "We already have 9,500 pre-booked meetings and 30,000 tickets booked.”
She adds 14% of exhibitors are first timers, and flags the new £45 entry fee after 31 October.
"I believe in human contact," she continues. "This year we bantered around 40,000 (attendees), but I think we’ll probably go over that – I would not be surprised if it was over 45,000, maybe near 50,000.
"Last year wasn’t the largest show ever, but satisfaction was the highest ever. It’s not all about how many people, but what they get out of it.”
Losardo has cause for optimism; exhibitor space is up 21% on last year, and up 6% on 2019. “It’s a Premier League football pitch larger,” she adds.
Taking up some of this increased space is a new zone, Accommodation, Transportation, Experiences and Technology. “This was set up in recognition of consumer trends," she tells TTG.
"The younger generation buys travel based more on experiences than the destination. It’s year one, but we’ve got a 30% increase in these non-destination customers.”
Some destinations are returning, like New York City and Bermuda, while France, Brazil and China have increased stand size.
Efforts have also been made to stem the gradual drop-off on the show’s last day. “We’ve told people they need to be the same on stand as they were on day one,” says Losardo. A key new event on the Wednesday will be the influencers’ lunch for 150 invitees, where they will meet exhibitors.
That looks guaranteed to be popular, as will the show’s finale – a keynote speech from Louis Theroux. A fitting conclusion given the trend for more immersive and experiential travel that will run throughout WTM this year.
