WTM Latin America 2025 Puts Record Numbers on the Board

WTM Latin America 2025, held in São Paulo, ended on a high note with growth across all key metrics, including visitor attendance, exhibition area, and business meetings. By 2:00 p.m. on the final day, the event had registered 29,979 participants, an 8.04% increase over 2024, while the ConnectMe platform logged 7,369 business meetings in just the first two days—exceeding the total for all three days of last year's edition.

This year’s edition featured 837 exhibiting brands, a 5% increase from 2024, with 58 first-time exhibitors and a total exhibition space of 8,027 m², marking a 10% growth. The fair also introduced three new thematic zones: Mobility, Travel Suppliers, and the Experience Zone, designed to offer sensory engagement and enhance visitor interaction.

The Diversity Route, in its second year, expanded to include Community Tourism and Accessible Tourism, joining the previous themes of Afrotourism, LGBTQIA+ Tourism, and Senior Travel (60+). The Responsible Tourism Award also saw a record 164 project submissions from across Latin America. The event hosted 78 sessions, including talks, panels, and the Hosted Buyers Program supported by Embratur and Sebrae.

Among the standout sessions was a panel on Indigenous Tourism, with representatives from Mexico, Chile, and Canada emphasizing the need to center local communities in tourism planning. Panelists stressed that tourism should share and preserve living cultures, rather than turning them into spectacles or intruding on sacred spaces.

Accessible tourism also took the spotlight, with experts highlighting the importance of empathy, technology, and concrete inclusion actions. Success stories included Costa Rica’s DonaTapa project, which transforms plastic waste into accessible infrastructure, and inspiring personal accounts from travelers with disabilities who experience destinations in uniquely sensory and cultural ways.

Discussions on the future of tourism called for a human-centered approach, urging a departure from outdated models in favor of market diversification, regional travel within Latin America, and inclusive storytelling. In this spirit, organizers confirmed that the next edition of WTM Latin America will take place from April 14 to 16, 2026, once again at Expo Center Norte in São Paulo.