Orkney will rub shoulders with its tropical counterparts – The Bahamas, Hawaii and Jamaica – when local representatives attend the World Travel Market for the first time next week.
The Orkney Tourism Group will join national tourism agency VisitScotland to exhibit at the leading global travel industry event, held in London from Monday to Thursday.
In addition to Orkney Tourism Group, VisitScotland will also exhibit with Abbey Tours Scotland, Bespoke Hotels, Blair Castle and Gardens, Halo Hotels, Highland Explorer Tours, Historic Scotland, Spirit of Scotland Shows, Strathmore Hotels and The Royal Highland Hotel.
Set up in 2005, Orkney Tourism Group is a not-for-profit company which represents and supports around 450 members in the tourism sector in Orkney.
Kirsty Mainland, Chair of Orkney Tourism Group, said: “Although Orkney attracts tens of thousands of visitors from around the world each year, we never rest on our laurels and are continually looking for new ways to spread the word about our wonderful landscape, archaeology, wildlife, culture, food, drink and crafts.
“All of our local tourism businesses work very hard to ensure the Orkney visitor experience is unrivalled in terms of quality and we look forward to representing them, and the islands, at this important international event.”
The prestigious World Travel Market brings together senior travel professionals from 186 countries and is attended by more than 50,000 industry professionals, government ministers and international press every year.
Now in its 36th year, the business-to-business event provides a unique opportunity for the whole of the global travel trade to meet, network, negotiate and conduct business – which in turn generates more than £2.5billion of new travel industry contracts.
Malcolm Roughead, Chief Executive of VisitScotland said: “We welcome Orkney Tourism Group’s presence for the first time at the World Travel Market. This is a wonderful opportunity for all of our partners to showcase themselves on the global stage, in front of key industry professionals in the international market.”
The World Travel Market will be held in the international exhibition centre, ExCeL London.