GOSTELOW REPORT—”Stressing wellness for all those involved in luxury travel, from owners and investors through to operators and, of course, consumers, is just right for today’s mindfulness world,” says Alison Gilmore, portfolio director, of the International Luxury Travel Market. The portfolio’s most significant show, ILTM Cannes, France, ran to record attendance, December 3-6, 2018.
ILTM Cannes attracted 1,880 exhibitors, from 101 countries, plus, from 80 countries, 1,816 invited “buyers,” travel advisers from one-person through to billion-dollar companies. The core business model is that exhibitors, predominantly hotels and hotel groups, pay significantly for the opportunity of 20-minute pre-set meetings with buyers, some of whom they already know and others they are keen to talk with. Exhibitors can thus see those who brings business in one place, rather having to travel to see them.
“As well as talking to advisers who send business to my hotels in India I have been in discussions with operators over four projects I am working on in the Laccadives,” said Chennai-based Pramod Ranjan, adding that he has already blocked off the dates for ILTM 2019.
It could, indeed, well be said that ILTM offers top-end owners and operators arguably the best annual networking opportunity (if Marlene Poynder, GM of The Conrad New York, could only do one show a year, this would be it). The program is timed to allow hosted breakfasts, lunches and evening events – it is the norm to make cameo appearances at perhaps four cocktail parties and then probably a seated dinner. Since the sun shone brilliantly all week, those calling in at events on rooftop terraces saw such hosts as Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts, Shangri-La Hotel & Resorts and Swire Hotels’ The House Collective retaining guests for at least a few more minutes.
The final night, Thursday, ILTM itself threw a wrap-up party, with free-flowing Taittinger Champagne and a revolving dance floor at Hotel Martinez, now sumptuously redesigned by Pierre-Yves Rochon as a Hollywood-type member of Hyatt’s Unbound Collection.
This may be the 17th annual event but, like travel and tourism in general, the sector of the industry ILTM serves is evolving. “Today’s luxury travelers have done their own research on the web, so our job now is to dig so that our concierges still know more than anyone else,” said Luca Virgilio, MD of The Dorchester Collection’s The Eden Rome. Echoing this, Pierre-Louis Renou, MD of one of Cannes’ base hotels, Majestic-Barrière, already created a second conciergerie, back of house, to fulfil exact requests made by guests.
The need to stay relevant was echoed everywhere. As part of the evolution, for the first time ILTM’s opening educational Forum, on the Monday afternoon, was themed, for health and wellness. Anna Bjurstam, wellness adviser to Cos Cob, Connecticut-based Pegasus Capital Advisors – majority owner of Raison d’Etre spa consultants and also Six Senses Hotels, Resorts & Spas – pointed out that about 25% of travelers are already interested in wellness, and latest figures show those choosing a vacation that is wellness-oriented spend an additional 40%.
Another speaker, National Geographic fellow, author and lifespan specialist Dan Buettner, shared details on the world’s five healthiest locations: “At Loma Linda, California, where, despite living right next to a freeway, a Seventh Day Adventist community, which devotes one day a week to networking, has male life expectancy of 87, versus the 76-year U.S. norm, and female expectancy is 89, up from the 80-year U.S. average)”, he said.
Networking at ILTM seems more relevant than ever. As always for the past three years, Alison Gilmore wrapped up the opening forum with the presentation of this year’s award for contribution to all those involved in luxury travel – the recipient, fortunately among the 3,000 who had managed to squeeze into the auditorium of the theater venue, Palais des Festivals – was Geoffrey Gelardi, until July, 28-year veteran MD of The Lanesborough London. Among those applauding was the initial recipient, after whom the award is permanently named, and the 2017 winner, Virtuoso Chairman Matthew Upchurch, who had brought 349 Virtuoso-accredited advisers to ILTM.
Then it was on to those days of serious discussions, with many exhibitors later saying their companies had done “millions” of business. And, said Alison Gilmore on Friday, “Looking back, I feel ILTM has been the finale of what has been an amazing year for the industry globally, and it bodes very well for 2019.”