Simon Press, Managing Director International at Fairfest Media, has spent many years in the events sector, including running some of the largest travel brands. He shares his vision for WTE Miami’s first edition under Fairfest.

What has shaped your leadership of international trade shows?
The biggest lesson I’ve learned is that a trade show succeeds when it is built around the business its buyers and exhibitors actually need to do. It’s about having that community at the heart of a live event. You can’t import a format into a market and expect it to just work. It has to be built on what the market wants: its associations, its buyers, its people, its community.

What is your vision for WTE Miami and its next phase of growth?
As people are aware, Fairfest bought WTE Miami at the end of 2025 and this is the first year that WTE Miami has been run under the new ownership. Fairfest has decades of experience building travel marketplaces throughout India and Asia, including Outbound Travel Market (OTM) and a series of shows under the umbrella brand TTF, as well as BLTM. 

Our vision for WTE Miami comes from one idea: every partnership in American travel starts with a first meeting. The US travel trade can feel fragmented, in that it’s serviced by a large number of events and conferences. WTE provides a neutral ground where the travel and tourism industry can meet the world’s destinations and suppliers in one place.

The next phase is about making those meetings count, with better buyer and exhibitor matching, ensuring that the results are measurable, and a show that the whole of the US trade feels is theirs. It’s about delivering something of value for the US travel and tourism industry.

What excites you most about the opportunity to build WTE Miami at this particular moment in the travel industry?
First, the travel advisor is having a real moment. Advisors are winning business on relationships, service and expertise rather than price, and also on being human. The independent, home-based travel advisor is helping to reshape the industry, and those advisors need somewhere to meet suppliers that isn’t tied to one network.

The second point is that the way the US trade meets may seem to some as being closed. Most events belong to one consortium, one host agency or one association. There’s a real gap for a truly neutral marketplace where everyone can be seen and do business together. That’s what WTE can be, and now is the right time to build it.

What are you looking forward to at this year’s show?
I’m excited about the scale of what’s coming together. What the WTE Miami team has done over the last year is extremely impressive when it comes to growing the show. We’ll have more than 300 exhibitors from nearly 70 countries and territories, with more than 15 of those countries exhibiting with us for the first time, including China, South Korea, Romania, Australia and Canada. We also have 14 airlines exhibiting, including Delta and LATAM, which are sponsoring the VIP lounge. It means advisors will meet destinations and partners they generally wouldn’t have seen before.

What I’m really looking forward to is the meetings. SnapCard, our in-house meetings platform, is  about helping people make the best use of their time. Our meetings are of huge importance and they’re meant to help those attending the show generate greater ROI and return on time.

I’m also looking forward to the WTE conference program. We’ve done some great work this year to make it far more of an integral part of the show and a learning opportunity. It’s been designed so that travel advisors have tangible takeaways they’re able to implement to help their growth when they go home. I’m also looking forward to hearing from exhibitors who’ve discovered new partners on the floor.

This year’s theme is “The Travel Advisor of the Future”. What role can WTE Miami play in helping advisors navigate the changes taking place across the industry?
The travel industry is dynamic. It keeps powering through, regardless of the economic or political curveballs. AI is moving fast but the lesson for advisors isn’t that they’ll be replaced. It’s more that the transactional part of the job will increasingly be automated, and the value of human expertise, trust, access and judgment will go up. 

The advisor of the future needs three things, and WTE gives them all of them. They need to discover products their clients can’t find for themselves, which is why the exhibitor mix matters so much. They need practical knowledge of the tools and trends changing their businesses, which the WTE conference provides. And they need relationships with suppliers who will support them, which only come from meeting face to face at WTE Miami. 

What message would you like to share with the exhibitors, buyers and visitors joining you at WTE Miami this year?
First of all, it’s a thank you. Whether this is your first WTE or your fourth, you’re part of building something the US travel trade hasn’t had before: a marketplace where the whole industry can do business with the world. My ask is simple. Come with an open mind and use your two days fully. Book your meetings. Walk the floor. Talk to someone you’ve never met before. The best partnerships in travel all started with a first meeting, and I hope a few of yours start at WTE this year. Also, please tell us how it goes, because we want to hear your stories and keep making the show better.

Simon Press’s conference picks

Tuesday, October 27
Understanding The American Traveler: “Portrait of American Travelers” Annual Study
10:30 AM – 11:00 AM
Stage 1

Wednesday, October 28
From Travel Advisor to Business Owner
03:45 PM – 04:30 PM
Stage 1