World Travel Market, London 2014

Every year, World Travel Market in London draws thousands of the who’s who of the global travel industry. And every year, I am invigorated by the immensity of the show. This year is no different.

I’m in London for World Travel Market 2014. For those who aren’t familiar with the show, it is a giant event where businesses from all over the world dealing in destination marketing and the travel industry can network and grow new business relationships. Countries and regions have their own booths rich with media and destination information and major hotel groups proudly present their capabilities. Brasil even had their own little bar setup.

With every booth having something to offer and flatscreens playing dreamy shots of beautiful locations, it’s easy to get distracted so I try to attack one part of the show at a time. Today, however, my first stop was at Elite Island Resorts‘ Authentic Caribbean booth to see our photographs and videos come to life! We’ve worked closely with Elite Island Resorts for years and just recently came back from Antigua, where we photographed St. James’ Club, Verandah, and Galley Bay. There’s always something very satisfying about seeing your photographs huge and gracing the floor of World Travel Market. On top of that, I got to see our latest Elite Island Resorts video looping on quite a large flatscreen! (Okay it’s not as big as Brasil’s up there, but we make up for it with a beautiful array of Caribbean destination shots!) Shows like World Travel Market are always wonderful examples of the kinds of media needed for large scale marketing.

As I walked around, I noticed more video than I ever had in the past, making me even MORE thrilled about my newest GoPro Hero 4 Black 4K camera purchase. (She’ll be mounted on a new Phantom II drone to capture those dreamy aerial shots. Oh there will be videos. Stay tuned!) It’s been interesting to see the impact of adding video to large format still images. In the booths I saw on day one, people seemed to be using the dual media to successfully draw people in, allow them to be immersed in the experience, and then gently push them to their respective websites for more photos, video, and information. Each type of media is consumed differently, but they both go hand in hand. Just like in social media, still photographs will always be a staple, but video is on the rise –  whether it be a few second clip or a two minute immersion depends on the platform, but in the end, it may turn a potential customer into a customer.