The International Luxury Travel Market in Cannes, France, one of the industry's premier events and one of the last to pull the plug on its live event because of the pandemic, is promising a virtual "World Tour" with all the same networking and educational benefits for advisors and suppliers.
"The only thing missing is the coffee, Champagne and the parties," Alison Gilmore, director of the ILTM portfolio of shows, said in releasing more details about the show this week.
While those obviously are highlights that normally complement nine-hour days of meetings on the French Riviera, Gilmore said one advantage of the virtual event is ITLM can expand the number of buyers because it isn't limited by space and hotel capacity. And, of course, travel and expenses won't be an issue.
"A lot of people who may not have been able to come before can," she said. "We can get more [advisors] from more companies."
Gilmore said the virtual event, dubbed "ILTM World Tour: Access all areas," has attracted more than 1,200 luxury suppliers, compared to the 2,000 that normally come to Cannes to meet advisors from around the world.
She said organizers were "pleasantly surprised" at the level of interest "because there have been so many virtual events, and we're all a bit Zoomed out."
She said to accommodate different time zones, the event will take place in three-day increments over three weeks. The first kicks off for Asian buyers Nov. 17 to 19, followed by meetings for Europe, the Middle East and Africa on Nov. 23 to 25 and North and South America on Dec. 1 to 3.
And spaces are still available for advisors interested in participating in the North America and Europe shows, she said.
The events will feature four hours of networking each day, with breaks that will include keynote speakers as well as health and wellness content, "all the good stuff that we normally do," Gilmore said.
It will be the first virtual event for ITLM, which canceled its regional shows this year because of the pandemic. It held out until September before suspending the Cannes show.
"I was so optimistic," said Gilmore. "That was one of the hardest decisions I've had to make in my life."
She said ITLM decided to move forward with the virtual event to keep advisors and luxury travel companies connected and "help the industry go forward" post-pandemic.
For 2021, Gilmore said ILTM will push its portfolio of regional shows to the second half of the year.