Our First World Travel Market London. Where the Journey Really Began.

_{Written by Elena Alexandra Mihailov
Founder & Luxury Travel Expert
Published: 5 November 2025 • 6 min read}

This week, thousands of travel professionals have once again gathered at ExCeL London for World Travel Market.

For the first time since starting my journey in the travel industry, I wasn't there.

I was travelling myself, something I certainly can't complain about, but as I followed the event from afar, I found myself looking back at my very first World Travel Market just a year earlier.

It made me realise how much can change in twelve months.

Before there were clients, bookings or awards, there was curiosity.

That curiosity brought me to World Travel Market London 2024.

I still remember arriving at ExCeL London that morning. Badge around my neck, excited to experience one of the biggest travel events in the world, and with absolutely no idea how much that day would influence the journey that followed.

Standing at the entrance, I paused for a moment before walking inside. Around me were thousands of people from every corner of the world. Some represented entire countries. Others were there on behalf of luxury hotels, airlines, cruise lines, tourism boards and global travel brands. Despite our different backgrounds, we all shared one thing in common: a passion for travel and a genuine desire to help people discover the world.

Looking back today, it's hard to believe that when I attended World Travel Market London 2024, A&A Legacy Travel hadn't officially launched. There were no clients to book, no awards to celebrate and no community following the journey. There was simply an idea, a notebook full of plans and the determination to build a travel business based on knowledge, trust and genuine relationships.

Looking back now, I wouldn't have wanted the journey to begin anywhere else.

World Travel Market is far more than an exhibition. For three days, the global travel industry comes together under one roof. Tourism boards, airlines, luxury hotels, cruise lines, destination specialists and travel professionals from around the world meet to exchange ideas, strengthen partnerships and discover what's next for travel.

The theme for 2024 was TravelPower.

I'll admit that before arriving, it was just a slogan to me.

After spending the day speaking with tourism boards, hotel partners and travel professionals from across the world, I understood exactly what it meant.

Travel has the power to connect people who would otherwise never meet. It supports communities, creates opportunities and allows us to experience cultures through the eyes of the people who call those places home.

It didn't take long to realise that one day would never be enough.

Within a few minutes, I'd travelled, at least in conversation, from the islands of the Indian Ocean to Arctic adventures, luxury safari lodges, iconic cities and destinations I'd barely heard of before. Every aisle revealed another part of the world. Every stand had a different story to tell. It was impossible to see everything, and that was probably the most exciting part.

What impressed me most wasn't the size of the exhibition.

It was the people behind it.

The pride they had in their destinations. The passion they spoke with. The genuine excitement they felt when introducing someone to their country for the very first time.

It reminded me that travel has always been about people.

Hotels will renovate. Airlines will launch new routes. Resorts will evolve.

But the people you meet along the way are often what transform a holiday into a lifelong memory.

Only a few weeks after World Travel Market, I travelled to Sri Lanka to celebrate Christmas before welcoming the New Year in the Maldives.

Although those trips had already been planned, looking back they almost feel like a continuation of everything I'd experienced in London.

After spending days learning from destination specialists and tourism boards, I was suddenly walking through tea plantations in Sri Lanka, speaking with local people, learning about traditions and then beginning a new year surrounded by the crystal-clear lagoons of the Maldives.

Those journeys reinforced something I had already begun to understand at World Travel Market.

The best travel advice comes from being there yourself.

Brochures are useful. Training courses are essential. Online resources have their place.

But none of them can tell you how a destination feels when you arrive, how welcoming the people are, which experiences leave the biggest impression or the little details that make one place completely different from another.

That belief continues to shape everything I do at A&A Legacy Travel today.

Whenever possible, I invest in visiting destinations, attending industry events, completing specialist training and meeting partners face to face. My clients may never attend World Travel Market, but they benefit from those experiences every time I recommend a hotel, suggest an itinerary or introduce a trusted travel partner I've personally met.

Although I couldn't attend World Travel Market London 2025, I still followed the event closely.

It was wonderful to see both Romania, where I grew up, and AlUla, one of the destinations on my own travel bucket list and one I am proud to specialise in, represented among exhibitors from across the world.

Seeing Romania there made me smile.

For many travellers, Romania remains an undiscovered destination. Yet it offers medieval towns, the castles of Transylvania, the painted monasteries of Bucovina, the wildlife of the Danube Delta, the Carpathian Mountains for skiing in winter and hiking in summer, and a beautiful Black Sea coastline. It deserves far more recognition than it often receives, and I hope more travellers will discover everything it has to offer.

Following this year's event also gave me something else.

Perspective.

Twelve months earlier, I had walked through the doors of ExCeL London hoping to learn as much as I could.

A year later, A&A Legacy Travel had officially launched, new partnerships had been built, specialist training had been completed, incredible destinations had been explored and, most importantly, I had been trusted by clients to help create memories all over the world.

When people think about a travel adviser, they often imagine someone searching for flights or comparing hotel prices.

What they don't always see are the conversations behind every recommendation, the relationships built over years, the continuous learning and the personal experiences that give us the confidence to recommend one destination over another.

I still have my World Travel Market delegate badge.

To most people, it's simply a badge from an industry event.

To me, it represents the day A&A Legacy Travel stopped being an idea written in a notebook and started becoming something real.

Every destination I've visited since, every partnership I've built and every client I've had the privilege to help can be traced back, in one way or another, to that first visit to World Travel Market London.

Looking back at that badge today brings back exactly the same feeling I had as I walked through the doors of ExCeL London for the very first time.

Excitement.

Curiosity.

And the certainty that I had chosen the right career.

This was only the first chapter.

The journey continues.