Where’s Hot and Where’s Not?
New research released in London by International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), has revealed Italy to be the most popular country for top end travel.
The European hot spot is also tipped to be the most sought after destination in the coming 12-18 months.
The leading luxury travel show ILTM surveyed over 1,500 of its VIP buyers on issues relating to general luxury travel trends, changing demographics within the luxury travel client base, as well as environmental and security issues.
Respondents included a broad cross section of global tourism and travel companies, from high street travel agents to events organisers.
Brad Monaghan, marketing manager of ILTM, commented, “Our research reveals that luxury visitor numbers and expenditure are on the rise globally, with companies experiencing an average 17.5 percent increase in client numbers and a 16 percent increase in client expenditure.”
“Despite the number of emerging luxury travel destinations around the globe, it’s interesting to note that Italy remains the leading choice with Europeans as well as amongst developing luxury travel markets such as China, Russia and India.”
According to the ILTM research, other destinations tipped to be in strong and growing demand over the coming year include the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Vietnam and China.
In contrast, the destination experiencing the biggest decrease in requests by luxury travellers is North America, despite other markets rebounding to the States with renewed confidence.
Security concerns, issues with immigration, difficulty obtaining visas and a general negative perception of the US were the major reasons cited for the country’s plummeting popularity on a global level.
“Travel to the USA is definitely experiencing a downturn among affluent travellers from Spain”, said Francesc Escánez, director at Atlantida Viatges. “Strict and dubiously effective security measures at American airports involving long queues, do not put luxury travellers at ease.” “They are thus travelling to alternative places offering fewer inconveniences.”
The UK and Ireland also fared badly in the research, as the strength of the British pound pitched them as being too expensive against their competitors. London’s airports also came under criticism
ILTM will take place December 3-6 2007 at Le Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes.
Report by The Mole
John Alwyn-Jones
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