How it Went: Destinations – The Holiday & Travel Show February 2023 | My Soho Times

When we shared an exciting announcement that My Soho Times magazine will include a permanent travel segment in all print editions from Spring 2023, it made perfect sense to seek inspiration from the UK’s longest running travel show. Travel blogger Jessica Viana shares her highlights.

Last week I attended the Destinations: The Holiday & Travel Show 2023 which took place at Olympia London. From the 2nd – 5th February, the West Kensington exhibition centre was filled with stands from travel brands, tour operators and tourist boards, ready to welcome travel aficionados and industry professionals.

Before roaming through the maze of stands promoting anything from cruise companies to destinations all over the world, I kicked off the day by attending a Travel Photography Master Class led by professional travel photographer Steve Davey. The 90-minute session provided not only insight into what makes Travel Photography great, but also what tools and settings can help travel photographers achieve the best results while travelling, camera in-hand. The various photography examples shared by Steve were meticulously hand-picked to demonstrate what works and what doesn’t, as well as the reasons why, and how to fix and prevent mistakes. Ultimately, although I left the class with a page full of notes to take home, I learned that even professional travel photography should be, above all, about having fun and telling great stories.

Back in the main exhibition area, I started making my way across the floor representing all corners of the world and all sorts of travel experiences and preferences. Along with travel experts ready to help with planning my next trip (the Trailfinders stand was constantly buzzing), the stands offered much more: I signed up for countless holiday giveaways and raffles (maybe I’ll visit Sri Lanka this year!), joined themed photo ops (I brought home prints of the photos at the Philippines’ stand wearing traditional hats), had my name drawn in traditional Chinese characters at the Taiwan stand, and attended and tasted a traditional Thai Papaya Salad cooking demonstration by the lovely Yui Miles, quarter finalist of Masterchef UK 2019. On top of this, all stands had PR/marketing representatives present, which made the event a very successful networking opportunity.

For my travels this year, crucial planning will go into my aspiring island-hopping trip towards the end of the summer, so I stationed at any cruise company stand looking to find the perfect match. Between exchanging contacts, potential business conversations and flipping through flyers, I also learnt about new ways of executing my dream trip than when I had come on that day. The Ponant stand even encouraged me to climb into their zodiac and take a photo wearing a National Geographic jacket – perhaps I should swap my Mediterranean summer plans for a polar expedition adventure?

I had walked into Olympia London that morning with a tote bag holding nothing but a notepad and my DSLR, but came home with freebies, business cards, and an embarrassing number of travel catalogues where I’ve now marked pages and scribbled notes and drawings for trips I have planned for this year. In my tongue, the spicy breath from the chiles in the Thai Papaya Salad satiated my inner travel foodie.

I’m one hundred percent sure that anyone else sharing the same travel obsession as me would walk away from this event with a full heart and a rattling wanderlust bug for 2023.

Written by Jessica Viana

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