Exhibitors explain the benefits of a day at the GLT Show

Group travel organisers and coach tour operators who visit the annual Group Leisure & Travel Show are greeted by a range of attractions, providers, hotels, cruise lines and more - all on-hand to help plan the perfect trip or holiday. 

The 2024 exhibition will take place on Thursday 3rd October at the Marshall Arena in Milton Keynes. You can discover everything you need to know at grouptravelshow.com. 

Previous exhibitors and visitors have spoken about the importance of meeting people face-to-face and being able to generate new business. 

“We know we’re talking to the right people at the GLT Show which is really key for us.”

Amy Summers, Visit Isle of Wight 

Chris O’Brien from Nevis Range Mountain Experience, said: “For us it’s good to come to the GLT Show as we get to meet people we work with throughout the year face to face. You can’t put a price on getting to see people and shake their hands. The (2023) show paid for itself within the first ten minutes as we picked up some new business, so we were very happy about that.

“We do quite a few other exhibitions but specifically for groups, this is the best one because people are coming here with that mindset whereas the others are a bit less specialist in terms of the people you’re going to be talking to. It makes it really easy for us because we’re coming with one product and one pitch.

“The core of our business is group travel. There’s one person here who brings us 20,000 visitors a year, if anything this show is worthwhile for me just to spend an hour with him which is what we did.”

Attracting new GTOs and coach tour operators

Exhibitors are given a platform to raise their company profile and the awareness of their brands, as the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew, discovered.

Visitor operations team leader, Bianca Pasquero, said: “It’s a great opportunity to widen our audience and attract new coach companies and group travel organisers. It’s good to create new relationships and for networking, taking to other companies and sharing best practice as well as speaking to the GTOs.

“It’s a way to increase our visitor numbers and spread the word about what we can offer. It’s a great show with a very nice atmosphere that offers a really good opportunity.”

Exhibitors have also said the Group Leisure & Travel Show provides a place to meet with other attractions and suppliers, not only to see what competitors might be up to, but also to work together on new products. 

“In the build up to the event, I would say about half of the conversations I had with group organisers were about if I would be at the GLT Show, which gave me full confidence that it would be really good and it’s certainly delivered.”

Alan Rennie, Ambassador Cruise Line

Julie Wilson of Norfolk Lavender uses the exhibition to discuss new bespoke offers with other local attractions. She said: “We only come to the Group Leisure & Travel Show as it’s a great place to meet people in the industry. We’ve spoken to other attractions near to us like Thursford Christmas Spectacular and Holkham to try and work together on a combined ticket option for groups.”

The diverse mix of exhibitors to the show means visitors can meet the right people, while also discovering something new and unexpected from what’s on offer.

Amy Summers of Visit Isle of Wight said: “A lot of the people we spoke to wanted to know what’s new for groups on the Isle of Wight so it’s a great chance to spread the word and hand out our updated guides to the island. We know we’re talking to the right people at the GLT Show which is really key for us. It’s not always necessarily about volume, it’s about quality, and we find that this show really brings quality visitors.”

“It’s a great show with a very nice atmosphere that offers a really good opportunity.”

Bianca Pasquero, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

First time exhibitors also reap the rewards, with Alan Rennie of Ambassador Cruise Line adding: “It was our first experience of the Group Leisure & Travel Show (in 2023) and it was absolutely amazing. In the build up to the event, I would say about half of the conversations I had with group organisers were about if I would be at the GLT Show, which gave me full confidence that it would be really good and it’s certainly delivered.”