World Travel Market 2013, the leading global event for the travel industry, will be opened by Sir Stuart Rose, one of the business world’s most respected leaders.
Former Marks & Spencer CEO and Chairman Sir Stuart led a turnaround of one of the UK high street’s most well-known brands and fought of a number of high profile take over bids for the retailer.
Sir Stuart will open World Travel Market 2013 at the new-look WTM Captains of Industry Opening Lunch, with 200 of the industry’s most senior leaders in attendance.
Veteran BBC presenter Stephen Sackur will interview Sir Stuart about his career in business, which will offer the travel industry senior industry audience inspiration and practical advice as to how they can run their own businesses.
Sir Stuart started as a management trainee at Marks & Spencer. He spent seventeen years there before moving on to become Burton Group CEO. Sir Stuart then became CEO Argos and Booker before being appointed as CEO of the Arcadia Group in 2000. The company was in financial difficulties but he turned the business around and presided over its sale two years later to Sir Philip Green.
He returned to M&S in 2004 as CEO, successfully fighting off take over bids from Green. Sir Stuart was promoted to joint Chairman & CEO of Marks & Spencer in 2008 and was knighted in the same year. He stood down from his role at M&S in 2011.
Sir Stuart is currently chairman of online delivery company Ocado.
Reed Travel Exhibitions, Director, World Travel Market, Simon Press said: “I delighted Sir Stuart Rose has agreed to open World Travel Market 2013.
“WTM 2013 is poised to be the biggest and best yet with a number of new initiatives taking place including The Travel Tech Show at WTM and A Taste of ILTM at WTM.
“Sir Stuart is the perfect high profile business speaker to open WTM, inspire the travel industry leader audience and kick off four days of business deal negotiation between exhibitors and WTM Buyers’ Club members.”
About World Travel Market
World Travel Market, the leading global event for the travel industry, is the must-attend 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.
WTM, now in its 34th year, is the event where the travel industry conducts and concludes its deals.
WTM 2012 generated £1,860 million of travel industry contracts, revealed independent research by Fusion Communications.
WTM is owned by the worldʼs leading events organiser Reed Exhibitions (RE), which organises a portfolio of other travel industry events including Arabian Travel Market and International Luxury Travel Market.
In 2012, RE held more than 460 events in 36 countries bringing together more than seven million people from around the world generating billions of dollars in business.
Reed Travel Exhibitions
Reed Travel Exhibitions (RTE) is the world’s leading provider of exhibitions in the travel and tourism industry, with a wide-ranging portfolio of 20 international events in 13 countries throughout the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and Africa. Its market-leading, business-to-business events cover all elements of travel and tourism, including leisure travel, luxury travel, meetings, events, incentives and business travel, as well as golf, ski and spa travel.
RTE is part of Reed Exhibitions.
