Delegates packed ExCeL London for the forty-fifth World Travel Market that closed on 6 November 2025 after three days of meetings that generated contracts targeting €12bn in forward bookings for 2026 and beyond. Buyers completed 34,082 pre-scheduled appointments, up seventeen per cent on last year, while exhibitors reached 4,150 across expanded halls.
Asia returned in force with pavilions from China, India, Malaysia and Indonesia drawing queues from dawn. Sarawak launched UNESCO-linked Borneo packages and Mongolia unveiled the Go Mongolia brand, confirming the continent now accounts for twenty-two per cent of global outbound spend.
Saudi Arabia claimed the largest national stand with seventy-one partners under the Saudi Land banner. The Tourism Authority signed nine MoUs onsite and facilitated twenty-seven more, pushing visitor forecasts past 116m for 2024 and sixtym in the first half of 2025 alone.
Spain filled two halls with regional booths from Andalucía to Menorca. Costa del Sol rolled out a €1m UK campaign aimed at shoulder-season British travellers, while Mallorca previewed the Four Seasons Formentor opening next summer.
Ireland hosted eighty tourism enterprises on a single island stand. Ministers Peter Burke and Keeva Archibald toured the floor together, announcing a €70m pipeline from the first half of 2025 trade events and 12pc growth in winter air seats.
Indonesia used the opening morning to launch the Go Beyond Ordinary campaign. Minister Widiyanti Putri Wardhana told delegates the three pillars of marine wonders, gastronomy and wellness will drive arrivals to 18m by 2027.
Travel technology occupied an extra 8,000 square metres with 115 exhibitors. Sessions on the Purple Stage debated whether AI remains the enemy of travel, while Trip.com Group demonstrated Trip.Planner, an end-to-end AI itinerary builder now live in twelve languages.
Hotels and bedbanks dominated buyer speed-networking. Hotelbeds reported a thirty per cent rise in API calls for dynamic packages, WebBeds unveiled cached rates for 1.2m properties and Bonotel introduced a book-and-claim carbon offset layer for wholesale bookings.
