There was advice on marketing for those already entrenched in the travel industry and on careers for those just starting out during the final day of World Travel Market London 2026, part of RX Global. Meanwhile, new AI assisted-booking technology, sure to be a hot topic at next year’s show, was showcased in a live demonstration.
Warnings on making assumptions on audience emerged at the Trends stage in a session on the ‘Contradiction Economy’. Abi Best, Managing Director of Lemongrass Marketing advised: “A woman aged 30 may have more in common with an 80-year-old depending on where their interests are… You need to be really specific and relevant to your audience.”
It was a point echoed by Sophie Buxton, Head of Marketing for UK & Europe for Intrepid Travel who shared that 40-year-old women were now traveling solo with the adventure operator besides taking other holidays with their family. She pointed out that by age, geography and wealth, King Charles and Mick Jagger could be put in the same demographic yet were likely to have very different leisure interests.
Best advised marketing departments to work with wider teams with on-the-ground experience with customers to avoid a disconnect between what travellers were perceived to want and their real-life concerns.
Tom Gierasimczuk, Vice President Communications for Resonance, which advises destinations on tourism, real estate and economic development, told the session: “People are increasingly spending more and more money [on travel] if they have the means to do so.” He added: “The trust that people are giving to [AI] agents for convenience is a game-changer.” But he advised going back to basics with marketing by building and interacting with your own audience via newsletters to avoid the constantly changing algorithms from social media “overlords.”
There was more advice on marketing over at the Experience Hub where TV presenter and journalist Aidy Smith shared how he uses long-form content to showcase destinations with “emotional relevance” for a diverse audience. He pointed out content could be repurposed for different formats, for instance a 45-minute podcast could be trimmed to create short clips for social media, so extending audience reach.
In another Experience Hub session Ash Bhardwaj, a journalist and presenter, talked about leadership through good storytelling, gleaned from his travel career and time as a British Army reserve officer.
Meanwhile, other delegates at the Experience Hub picked up tips on making responsible tourism more palatable for clients in a session humorously entitled ‘Hide the lentils in the cake.’ Debbie Hindle, Chair of the International Centre for Responsible Tourism Global, commented: “[Sustainability] should be innate…but we should be telling consumers about the experience and the emotion, not putting a label on it.”
The final day of WTM 2026 also featured the ITT Future You Summit in which early career stars, and management figures for Hays Travel, shared how their calculated risk taking had paid off. Among them, Amaan Shakir, now Partnerships Executive at Avis Budget Group explained how he took a job below his experience in order to break into travel. “Don’t be afraid to step back to move forwards,” he advised. A slew of new resources for entrants to travel were announced during the summit including Career Compass, an online library with short video case studies debuted for ITT’s 70th anniversary.
Over on the Future stage, advice for building companies was imparted by Louise Truman, founder of group travel specialist Plotpackers, who shared how her business is growing following her successful pitch on TV’s Dragon’s Den. Deborah Meaden and Steven Bartlett were the investors, getting 10% of her business for a total investment of £120,000. Since then, she revealed additional investments via Bartlett’s personal network, including from Richard Johnston, co-founder of TripADeal, the OTA which Qantas bought in 2024 at a valuation of A$400m.
The money was spent on upgrading Plotpacker’s back end, allowing the business to run on modern technology rather than spreadsheets. She offered a wealth of advice for start-ups, angled around being a female founder. “Never sell yourself short, have the confidence of a mediocre man,” she joked. And she also revealed the pivotal role WTM played when she was considering launching a travel business for solo female travellers. “I came to WTM, where Steven Bartlett spoke, and spent three days absorbing information. I swear by it.”
Also on the Future Stage, a crowded room witnessed a live demo showing how AI can now take a conversational text prompt all the way through to booking and payment. Luke Sun from AI-native platform Voyada completed a real-time booking for a ten-day trip to South Korea with flight, hotels and transfers. He was joined on stage by representatives from TripToGo, a B2B consolidator and fulfilment agency which is powered by Voyada. TripToGo’s front end can be white-labelled for use by retail travel agents, host agencies, influencers and MICE businesses. It took $28m in bookings last year, this year’s total so far is $81m.
Jesse Bolduc explained TripToGo’s approach: “Traditionally, agents had to search through the catalogue to get the right trip. With Voyada, we bring the inventory to the customer. AI has changed travel and there is no going back”.
Thanking everyone for coming together for a successful show, WTM Exhibition Director Chris Charter-Chapman revealed that the percentage increase in accredited buyers was greater than initially thought. Speaking on the Wanderlust stage he said: “When I opened the show on Tuesday, I said buyer numbers would be 35% up – now the show is over I can reveal that the actual increase on last year is 50%.”
The final session however went to comedian Phil Wang who had this year’s Keynote slot to talk about his life in travel. Among travel highlights, he shared how he had been pleasantly surprised by Shanghai: “It was so chilled, very spacious, very relaxed, very European.”
He was also wowed by Tutankhamen’s tomb in Egypt. “The main thing about the inside of these tombs is the colours are still there… these blues and gold and greens have been lying there for three thousand, It was exceptional.”
