Growth and change: The shifting luxury travel market

Focus on the high-end market at ITB Berlin 2018 – New: Loop Lounge @ ITB and the ITB Luxury Late Night – Luxury travel topics at the ITB Berlin Convention

High growth rates in the luxury travel market: according to the ITB World Travel Trends Report 2017/2018 (www.itb-kongress.de/en/ELIBRARY/Publications/Studies/) high-end travel accounts for seven per cent of the market and annual growth is in double-digit figures. Luxury travel is booming, while general attitudes towards this market are changing. Affluence is no longer defined by glitter and exhibiting wealth. Non-material forms of luxury are replacing status, and values such as self-discovery, personal experiences, authenticity and time are becoming more important. These challenges, as well as the opportunities, concern the industry and from 7 to 11 March 2018 will be key topics at ITB Berlin.

Hall 9 will be the place to head and a must for all interested visitors. With the new Loop Lounge @ ITB (www.virtualmarket.itb-berlin.de/en/loop-luxury-fair-by-Lobster-Experience,c473016) organised in collaboration with Loop, the trade show for luxury products, ITB Berlin has created a new platform for networking in an exclusive atmosphere with a select group of exhibitors. On the Thursday of the show the first ITB Luxury Late Night will provide an opportunity to cultivate the contacts made. At this new outstanding networking event at Orania.Berlin, a new Boutique Hotel, exhibitors will be able to meet leading buyers from the global luxury travel market. The event will be opened by Dietmar Müller-Elmau, the managing director of Schloss Elmau. Participation is by special invitation only.

Luxury awareness experts at the ITB Berlin Convention

The ITB Berlin Convention is in touch with the latest industry trends too. International experts will be explaining the real needs of the high-end travel market. On 7 March at the ITB Future Day, two sessions will take a look at luxury travel. In her keynote speech Jane Jie Sun, CEO of Ctrip.com International Ltd., will talk about ’The gateway to global peace and prosperity’. The new mission of tour operators is to make travelling easy and trouble-free and turn tourists into ambassadors of their cultural identity, says Jane Jie Sun. On the same day Dirk Ahlborn, CEO of Hyperloop Transportation Technologies, Inc. (HTT), and founder and CEO of Jump Starter Inc, will talk about the transport systems of the future such as flying taxis, hyperloops and supersonic airliners. Travelzoo will present the findings of a survey conducted exclusively for ITB on consumer opinion regarding revolutionary luxury transport of the future.

What lies behind the trend known as hidden luxury? The ITB Marketing & Distribution Day on Thursday, 8 March will attempt to give an answer. Insiders including Al Merschen of Principal Myriad Marketing/MMGY Global, and Alex Newinger, a butler with Industrial Dynasties, will reveal the secret of the hidden luxury phenomenon. They will analyse how ‘new luxury’ awareness is shifting towards ‘hidden luxury’ awareness, a parallel universe where there are no paparazzi, people are incognito, and they live a life of genuine luxury.