WTM 2016 Key Takeaways

The World Travel Market, hospitality’s largest annual trade show, concluded last week and industry professionals from all sectors of the industry gathered to observe the latest market findings. 2016’s edition was by far the most successful year in the WTM’s history – there were over 50,000 senior industry executives and more than 30,000 visitors in attendance.

Hotelogix enjoyed a particularly successful trade show, and also launched its smartphone PMS App for Android, the “PMS in your Pocket”*.

Based on our interactions with industry experts and professionals, here are some of our findings at this year’s WTM:

1. With awareness of cloud computing permeating small and mid-sized hotels, mid-market properties are actively seeking to adopt technology. This includes hotel owners who have never used technology before, as well as those looking to switch from an on-premise system to the cloud.
2. Hotel management service providers such as customer relations management, property management systems, distribution software, revenue management software and so on, are beginning to target the mid-market segment as well.
3. The launch of the ‘PMS in your Pocket’ – our new mobile PMS app – was greeted with enthusiasm, as a number of industry professionals appreciated the value that smartphone-enabled hotel management will bring to independent properties.
4. The simple, intuitive interface is easy for tech-novices to understand. As a result, channel partners are interested in the opportunity to forge an alliance and take Hotelogix’s PMS to new domains, where hoteliers are yet to adopt technology.
5. The general attending crowd were a lot more attuned towards purchasing technology, unlike in the previous years – it seems that tech adoption has become a serious subject for hotel owners from all walks of life.

Key takeaways regarding global travel and tourism:

1. Tourism arrivals is estimated to increase, with the industry set to cater to record-breaking number of inbound travelers by the end of 2016 – over 1.2 billion people toured the globe in 2015 and this number is bound to be eclipsed by December. This is despite widespread political unrest triggered by events like the US presidential elections and Brexit to name a few.
2. It’s not just international tourism, domestic trips are also faring well this year. There were over 9 billion travelers who explored their own countries in 2015, and so far in 2016 that number has grown by 6.1%.
3. Mobile sales have risen sharply since 2011, when less than $30 million could be attributed to mobile devices – by 2020, Euromonitor estimates that handheld devices will account for over $400 million in global travel sales. Even more significantly, sales from other online sources is expected to comprise just 40% of global sales.

We were also delighted to receive some great feedback on our product and services, from renowned industry experts and professionals alike – especially with the launch of our smartphone app.

It was a highly successful edition of the event – the most successful one ever, according to reports – and we’re glad we had this stellar opportunity to better understand the current scenario of the industry.

The future looks brighter than ever!

*iOS coming soon