A record-breaking 140+ global travel and tourism brands are set to attend the International Media Marketplace (IMM) event in London on 14th March, say organisers TravMedia, with over 250 leading journalists already pre-registered for the day.

TravMedia's flagship industry event (see http://travmedia.com/immuk/) is headline sponsored by Brand USA, the destination marketing organization for the United States, and takes place again at the QEII Centre, central London's largest dedicated conference and exhibition space.

Brand USA will host the event's lunch, with Texas Tourism announced this week as sponsor for the post-event reception, also taking place at the QEII. CityPASS has become the day's refreshments sponsor.

Meetings Manager, TravMedia's custom appointment-bookings website for IMM, which generated almost 3,000 15-minute meeting bookings in 2015, goes live soon. Journalists who cover travel can still register for the event here: http://travmedia.com/immuk/media-registration.html.

Tommy Woods, Texas Tourism's European Marketing Specialist, commented: "We are delighted to sponsor IMM's closing reception and to have the opportunity to discuss and present Texas' immensely diverse and unique destination to the cream of the UK media. We hope this will inspire attendees to explore what we have on offer to the UK visitor.

"This sponsorship forms part of a sales and media mission that Texas Tourism is organizing in and around London. Industry representatives from the state's regional tourism boards will be visiting key trade and media contacts to increase trade product to Texas and to educate our contacts on exciting developments in the Lone Star State."

Henry Hemming (pictured left), Managing Director of TravMedia UK, added: "Journalists have given a clear thumbs-up to the concept of a single day event where they can shop for a year's worth of leads and ideas from global travel and tourism PRs. We're anticipating our biggest-ever IMM".

Media titles registered for the UK event, through editors, writers and freelancers, include The Times, The Telegraph, The Sun, The Guardian, The Sunday Times, Metro, Cosmopolitan, House & Garden, Elle, Conde Nast Traveller, Wanderlust, National Geographic Traveller, BBC, Lonely Planet, Travel Weekly, TTG, ABTA Magazine and Selling Travel.

Exhibitors currently booked for IMM 2016 include Accor Hotels, Atout France, British Airways i360, Caribbean Tourism Organization, Carnival Cruise Lines, Destination Canada, Greek National Tourism Organisation, Hong Kong Tourism Board, Kennedy Space Center, Kuoni, Los Angeles Tourism and Convention Board, New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau, Pegasus Airlines, San Francisco Travel Association, Small Luxury Hotels of the World, Switzerland Tourism, Tourism Ireland, Virgin Holidays, Visit California, VisitDenmark, Visit Orlando and Visit Scotland, amongst others.

IMM has become the leading event connecting media with international tourism and travel brands. In 2015, over 200 journalists and 110 PR professionals attended. TravMedia also hosts IMMs in other regions, with the latest event in Australia, taking place at the Dockside Pavilion in Sydney on 19th February, with over 102 exhibitors and 120 journalists anticipated.