Yesterday, the Lake of Stars crew made our way to the monumental ExCeL building on the other side of London for the World Tourism Market. We wanted to make sure that as many people as possible were aware of the inspired Lake of Stars festival and to see what we could do in collaboration with other businesses around the world, particularly Africa. Upon entrance we were immediately blown away by daunting size of the place, worrying that perhaps we had got lost and ended up in an Airport Terminal rather than the World's biggest meeting of Travel-centric minds.
Situated in what seems like a never-ending room is a labyrinth of business stalls grouped by nations and then, on a larger scale, by continent. Despite having our sights set on Africa, and in particular its 'Warm Heart', we couldn't resist a walk around the whole hall checking out what every nation had on offer, in a trip that took us well over an hour. People from literally every country in the world had come thousands of miles to set up stalls and do business.
Eventually, after getting our hands on some free food and drink from all over the planet, we headed back to Malawi, where the country's businesses were centred around a large hut, full of people who were only too happy to help and spread the good word of Malawi.
We went around chatting to all kinds of businesses from all over Africa, spreading the Lake of Stars love and building up links in South Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Big up to our new friend Christopher from Woni Safaris in Kenya, who spoke with us at length about all the benefits of travelling through Africa and was insistent that we visit him some time in the very near future.
After talking to everyone who would listen and having knackered ourselves from all the excitement, we headed back home to London (the real London), with a day well spent networking across the world.
For more info on the World Travel Market please Click Here
