The World Travel Market has opened registration for WTM 2012. The WTM 2012 will mark the 21st anniversary of WTM Meridian Club, the club for the world’s leading buyers. WTM Meridian Club members will conclude a record £1,653 million ($2.6 billion) in deals with exhibitors from negotiations that started at WTM 2011 before WTM 2012.

Last year’s event saw a 5 percent increase in visitors to 26,908 across the four days, including a 14 percent increase on the first day of the event, which is a key day for business negotiations. Reed Travel Exhibitions Chairman World Travel Market Fiona Jeffery was WTM Marketing Director in 1992 when WTM Meridian Club was launched. “The WTM Meridian Club was launched to improve the quality of delegates attending WTM and increase the amount of business conducted due to the event,” she said. An exhibitor and WTM Meridian Club party will take place on the evening of Wednesday, Nov. 7, to celebrate 21 years of WTM Meridian Club.

WTM 2012 will include a full events program consisting of sessions from the popular World Responsible Tourism Day, Social Travel Market, Technology and Aviation programs. WTM 2011 saw an attendance of 16,000 delegates (8,000 unique people) attending the 110 sessions. World Travel Market is a four-day business-to-business exhibition for the worldwide travel and tourism industry. Almost 48,000 senior travel industry professionals, government ministers and international press embark on ExCeL-London every November to network, negotiate and discover the latest industry opinion and trends at WTM.