Inaugural WTM Latin America, Braztoa Get Going in Brazil’s Sao Paolo

The inaugural World Travel Market Latin America in Sao Paulo, Brazil, attracted almost 17,000 visits from senior industry professionals looking to conduct business negotiations over the three days of the event.

The visitor figure included over 150 hosted international buyers. The show, which took place from April 23 to 25, saw 1,200 exhibitors, 20 per cent over what was expected.

Exhibitions director Lawrence Reinisch said: “WTM Latin America surpassed expectations with many exhibitors signing a high number of business deals. This success has seen many exhibitors ask about increasing their participation for 2014 and furthermore many international visitors enquiring about taking stand space as they look to increase their exposure in the growing markets in Latin America.

“WTM Latin America further enhanced Reed Travel Exhibition’s reputation for delivering highly professional events, which help its exhibitors grow their businesses by developing a myriad of new commercial opportunities.”

In addition to this, the 39th Braztoa (the Brazilian Association of Tourism Operators) Commercial Encounter saw 73 Brazilian tourism operators that account for 90 per cent of the total leisure tourism market in Brazil, participate.

Braztoa guaranteed the presence of 850 travel agents from all over the country, who took part in activities including training sessions, forums and a round-table about Braztoa’s sustainability program.

The organization also brought together 80 senior Leisure-segment Brazilian Buyers and 130 international exhibitors for the Braztoa business meeting assuring that Braztoa-associated tour operator buyers had access to new destinations that were actively promoted in Latin America for the first time.

“The alliance with WTM Latin America opened up new frontiers for Braztoa’s associates, who had the chance to increase business, learn about new products and maintain the important relationship with travel agents. This new model will allow us to achieve even better results for our associates, suppliers and travel agents,” explained Marco Ferraz, Braztoa’s chairman.

Ferraz continued: We’re keen to make continuous progress within this partnership model taking advantage of best practices and carrying out whatever adjustments are necessary in order to ensure that the following editions are always better.”

WTM Latin America 2014 will take place from April 23 to 25 at the Transamerica Expo Centre in Sao Paulo, Brazil.