A Travel Writer's World

Posted by Donna Dailey Nov 16, 2006

If you're a travel writer, tour operator or involved with the travel industry in any way, there's one annual event on your calendar that's bigger than Christmas: World Travel Market. It takes place in London every November, and exhibitors from all around the world converge at the Excel Centre for a week of non-stop meeting, greeting, marketing and, of course, partying! And why not? When it comes to travel, there's a lot to celebrate.

World Travel Market has been going for 27 years and this year was the biggest ever, with over 5,000 exhibitors representing 202 countries. And there was record attendance of well over 48,000 visitors from the travel trade. It all goes to show that people are traveling the world like never before.

And international travel is only going to get bigger. This week Los Angeles announced the opening of its new Los Angeles Tourism Office in Beijing, making it the first city in the world to open a permanent tourism office in China. Chinese visitors to Los Angeles are expected to grow by 46 percent over the next two years.

Amid a whirl of colorful costumes, entertainers, arts, crafts, food and drink, World Travel Market shows off all this wide, wonderful world has to offer curious travelers. I, of course, headed straight for the Americas section to meet the representatives from Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California and Hawaii.

I met up with old friends from Denver and Santa Fe. California's stand stole the show with a clever replica of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. But I came away from every stand with loads of exciting ideas and new attractions to whet your appetite for travel in Southwest USA and Hawaii.

After a busy opening day, I headed off into the sunset for an evening of Margarita Madness with the folks from Arizona. Nothing washes off the trail dust like a prickly pear margarita – but that's another story.