From 6 to 8 November, our team attended WTM London to reconnect with customers and potential partners, as well as get the latest insights on the travel industry.
For three days, Nezasa’s CEO, Manuel Hilty, COO, Alex Farmer and Sales Director for the UK and Ireland, Meredith Thomas, got the chance to talk to familiar faces and explore the new trends booming in this revitalised industry.
Out of all the things they could highlight from this year’s WTM, the three agreed that the main aspect is that it truly feels like “all is back to normal”.
“It was really nice to see so many people back and doing business. Travel feels like it’s coming back stronger”, highlighted Meredith Thomas.
In fact, more than 30 000 visitors took part in this year’s WTM, with over 5 000 destinations and 9 000 decision-makers in the mix.
But for Nezasa, this was mainly the perfect chance to introduce our upcoming plans to our existing customers and retrieve valuable feedback to continuously improve our technology.
“By meeting with our customers, it was clear that booking levels are nearing pre-pandemic levels, but expectations from their consumers are higher than ever”, said Alex Farmer, Nezasa’s COO.
WTM proved to be a valuable ally in certifying that Nezasa’s main focuses for the future are aligned with the industry’s concerns and discussion topics. Across multiple panels and forums, recurring themes like sustainability and the need to deliver increasingly frictionless travel were ever-present.
Manuel Hilty, Nezasa’s CEO, was part of the panel “Will Adopters of AI and Big Data Win the Day?” where such topics were brought to the table. It was the perfect chance to brainstorm some ideas on the role of AI in helping deliver the frictionless experience as the highest potential tech for the future. But also how its capabilities are constantly challenged by the emotional experience of travelling.
At the end of the event, we came back with a positive and hopeful feeling. Huge crowds, a lot of interesting panels and palpable excitement around the revitalisation of the travel industry.