Bringing together more than 50,000 travel and tourism representatives, the World Travel Market helps industry figures adapt to match the top trends in the travel and tourism sectors. And on that train of thought, the London-based event underlined India as being one of the top destinations on people’s bucket lists – thanks to the country’s wide array of wildlife and breathtaking landscapes that lend themselves excellently to adventure travel – as is Tokyo, with next year’s Olympic Games encouraging a surge of sports enthusiasts.

Elsewhere, the conference shone a spotlight on climate change and the importance of sustainable travel and, as such, luxury tourism development The Red Sea project in Saudi Arabia was celebrated for its use of smart green technologies, as well as its commitment to 100-per-cent renewable energy, zero waste and carbon neutral operations. Morocco was also hailed as being a leader in the luxury travel sphere, having welcomed over 12 million tourists in 2018 and being able to offer relatively low price and niche luxury experiences, such as a luxury tent in the desert, or a tour in a hot air balloon.

In Greece, despite its iconic historic landscape, adventure travel is beginning to take centre stage, while, in Valencia, having a unique experience is important to travellers, including cultural activities such as food, festivals and interacting with the locals.

“A tourist is a person, we’re all tourists. We want to experience something new, something pleasant, that also has contact with people, with the local population," said Ximo Puig, President, Valencia Regional Government.

The event also emphasised the growing popularity of health and wellbeing travel, estimated to be worth around €575 billion a year, which is synonymous with Bulgaria’s tourism market. Last year, more than nine million people visited the country for this purpose. “We have everything, starting from beauty procedures and massage, and continuing to everything pre- and post-treatment regarding rehabilitation and all needs with the different parts of the body,” said Nikolina Angelkova, Minister of Tourism for Bulgaria. “We have more than 1,600 hot water natural springs, but we only use 600 of them. So we really have a really huge opportunity to expand this part of our sector and to attract investments in that."

The World Travel Market will return at the same time next year.