The Future of the Luxury Travel World

While Cannes may be universally known as the location for the international film industry, just as important to the luxury travel industry, is the International Luxury Travel Market (ITLM) that also takes place in this glamourous city on the French Riviera.

Taking place this year it was heralded a huge success by its many attendees and exhibitors, despite cancellations in light of the recent Paris terror attacks. This year marked the 14th annual signature event which took place at the famed Palais des Festival et des Congres, where all 3,000 of the attendees got the chance to walk the same red carpet as Bridget Bardot, George Clooney and Brad Pitt.

However with the great mix and variety of exhibitors on for show, many of the discussions turned out to be just as elucidating as the exhibitions themselves. In some cases exhibitors read like a who’s who in the luxury travel world with names such as Four Seasons, Ritz-Carlton and the Waldorf Astoria. However lesser known names were also in attendance and were provided with one on one support with agents to develop and strengthen networking opportunities with buyers.

Discussions surrounded the impact of global terrorism on the luxury travel industry. Alison Gilmore, the senior exhibition director of ILTM reported that the best way for the travel industry to show its support for Paris, is to continue traveling.

Other discussions centered around the future direction of the luxury travel industry in the emergence of Y-Gen and millennials, who are far more interested in experiences than big ticket luxury items. So that live lobby music by authentic local artists is likely to be much more appreciated than drinking out of Swarovski crystal champagne flutes. Yet, this is quite a jump from established conceptual notions of ‘Luxury’ and many of the speakers questioned the industry’s ability to change tracks and meet the wishes of the luxury world’s future travellers.