The International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), one of the world's premier events for connecting luxury travel suppliers with the top travel selling professionals, is expanding its portfolio in response to the phenomenal growth in wealth — and travel demand — in the Asia Pacific region.
Officials announced this week that ILTM Asia will move from China to Singapore and be renamed ILTM Asia Pacific. At the same time, the ILTM will create a separate event focused on China, which like past ILTM Asia shows will be held in Shanghai.
"Research amongst our clients shows that the luxury outbound market is growing so fast that many companies are now separating their current and future business plans and marketing strategies to focus on China and Asia as two independent opportunities," ILTM portfolio director Alison Gilmore said in announcing the changes at the opening of ILTM Asia.
Gilmore said the Asia Pacific event will be more international in scope, helping luxury travel companies better showcase their products to buyers in the easier-to-reach destination of Singapore, which she called the "dynamic heart of Asia both the region's gateway and its hub."
Last year, the ILTM celebrated the 15th anniversary of its globally focused flagship event, held every December in Cannes, with a record 3,000-plus exhibitors and travel advisers from more than 80 countries.
In addition to Cannes and China, the ILTM also hosts annual events in Japan, the Americas and Africa.
Expanding and separating the ILTM's Asian presence certainly makes sense, given the numerous reports about the growing wealth and number of outbound luxury travelers from the region.
Last year, Asia Pacific surpassed North America for the first time as the region with the largest amount of high net worth wealth, according to the World Wealth Report.
At the same time, establishing a China-only focused event will help luxury travel sellers better tap that fast-growing outbound travel market, which is huge in and of itself.
"Everything about ILTM China will be dedicated to supporting the growth of this outbound luxury travel industry providing the biggest opportunity for brands from around the world to connect with the hundreds of personally sourced VIP Chinese buyers and planners," Gilmore said.
Steve Odell, senior vice president and managing director of the Asia Pacific region for Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings, said the strategy follows his company's business model.
"Like many other corporations in Asia, we already have separate businesses for our mainland China business, headquartered in Shanghai, and the rest of Asia-based in Hong Kong," he said. "The business model, demographics and consumer profiles are quite different, so we can better serve each by focusing in a dedicated way. We really welcome the ILTM mirroring our own strategy by creating dedicated shows for the very different markets in the Asia region."