WTM London 2020 was launched on 9 November, with this year’s edition adopting a completely virtual character due to the ongoing pandemic. Polish Tourism Organisation used the “Poland. More Than a Destination” tagline to place special emphasis on promoting Poland’s active, city and cultural tourism, green spaces and health resorts.

This year Polish Tourism Organisation (Polska Organizacja Turystyczna - POT) joined forces with 32 partners to promote Poland with the tagline “Poland. More Than a Destination”, intended to communicate its rich tourism offer reflecting the expectations of present-day travellers. Active tourism (nature breaks), city tourism with particular focus on cultural attractions and urban green spaces (city breaks) and medical tourism (spa breaks) were at the top of the list of sectors advertised at this year’s WTM.

The virtual edition of World Travel Market offered the first chance since the pandemic outbreak to exchange experiences obtained by the industry in recent months. Experts from all over the world met to search for solutions making it possible to win back the confidence of tourists and enabling travel agencies to recover from financial disaster. Panel discussions tackled the issues of, e.g. changing consumer behaviour, the role and importance of digitalization in modern marketing era, as well as trends in travel and tourism during the pandemic.

This was also the first time that Rafał Szlachta took part in WTM London. Key industry media, such as Travel Bulletin and Radio Travel, interviewed the new President of Polish Tourism Organisation, who brought up crucial issues, such as the current promotion of Poland in foreign markets, including the UK, and the wide range of Polish tourism products.