WTM

Introduced on May 1 this year, a new online booking system has succeeded in reducing visitor concentration at the popular yet fragile beauty spot by 68%.

Last year up to 12,000 visitors were recorded at Comino’s Blue Lagoon at any one time during peak hours, and the new free booking system allows a maximum of 4,000 visitors at any one time. Bookings generate a QR code, and wrist bands are issued at entry points.

The average number of visitors at the Blue Lagoon at each of the three daily time slots introduced this summer is 1,979.

“Welcome to vaCay” is a new platform and campaign that offers travellers the antidote to over-scheduled, exhausting holidays. It’s been conceived off the back of new research, commissioned by the tourist board, which shows the vacation (or holiday) is broken.  

Chris Carter-Chapman has spent 15 years in the events industry, enough to know that if an event isn’t broken, it doesn’t need fixing.

Speaking four months into his new job of WTM London event director, he is clear about his approach: “There’s a tendency when you come into a new event to radically try and change it; I’ve worked on previous events where there was a case for doing that.

“For WTM, that’s just not needed. It’s successful because of its evolution, so for me it’s about how can I add value to an already highly successful and treasured show.”