This week, tens of thousands of exhibitors and delegates from around the world will congregate at London's ExCeL centre for one of the biggest dates in the tourism calendar. They come to World Travel Market to plan, predict and put their money towards how we’ll be travelling tomorrow. After three days there, you usually feel like you’re the one who needs a vacation.
The trade show has run an annual responsible tourism programme for 20 years, with interviews, panels and debates exploring how to do all this holiday business more sustainably. When I first attended in 2007, seeking stories for a book on responsible travel, the challenge was finding someone to write about. In the early years, the responsible tourism community was a close group of a few exceptional individuals and companies working passionately on different issues. But back then, their inspiring stories were just that — exceptions.
