By Frank Meke, reporting from Excel, London.
Inside the huge massive walls of Excel, London reveals the army of creative enforcers, the engineering team, men, and women in one accord , determined to bring to live a picturesque city, a world of amazing destinations, representing different stories of people’s and nations.
It is a sweet, smelly sight of sweat, machines and machinery, graphics finishings , woods, electrical cables, large screens, some as large as football fields, roving security cameras, all the works of creative geniuses, artistic designers, masons, carpenters, architects and builders with precision, nerve wrecking expectations to deliver before the gates are flung open to the world on Monday in London.
Excel, Customs House, is the iconic event centre in Central London for the opening of the biggest travel marketing exposition on earth. It has always been the melting point of global tourism traders and marketers. The global currencies shall also clash here, deals and deals signed and won.
If your country or trade brand is not here , then you don’t belong and could be counted among over forty thousand travel, tourism, and technology startup exhibitors, most with stupendous creative trade and entertainment stands, competitive in the colourful branding extravaganza.
About a hundred countries are here, and there is a show of size and capacity. Asia leads with amazing exhibition galleries and outstanding creative finishings, big screens, a major attraction in this game to win the souls of the travel world, with experiences on sale either on nature, culture, hospitality, cuisines, logistics, lodging or simply a make believe ecosystem told differently.
We bring you behind the scenes pictures, shots of lumbering of panels, woods, and electrical equipment. The feverish but professional quest to transform a huge space into a tourism city, which will be dismantled after three days with the same zeal and sweat !
The big spenders, yes, those countries which big money to tell their tourism stories, to market their products and services will be unveiled on Monday. They are the global disruptive tourism market leaders proudly and compulsively put their money where their experiences matter and count.
I will give you a head count on Monday, but with emerging shape, size, and sound of what is going on here, it’s easy to guess the high flyers but again, we wait for the city within the city of London to come alive on Monday.
From 6th to 8th of November, the gate to the city of fantasy and experiences of the most grandiour display of the global tourism market will be open, and Nigeria is not left out. National Association of Nigeria Travel Agencies and lagos state ministry of tourism, arts and culture, are Nigeria’s tourism yoke breakers. We shall give you top gist and pictures day by day right from here , so watch this space with keen interest and expectations.
