LATTE was fortunate to attend the annual ILTM Asia travel trade show in Shanghai on 1 – 4 June 2015.

Once again with over 500 luxury travel buyers from 26 countries across the Asia Pacific meeting with over 500 global exhibitors, ILTM Asia, now in its ninth year, promised to be an informative, inspiring event.

This year, 48 per cent of buyers were new to the show, while 40 per cent were new buyers from China. According to China’s National Tourism Administration, the nation now sends more tourists abroad than any country in the world with Australia being a favoured destination making ILTM Asia 2015 a crucial event for Australian tourism. Retailers can also take advantage of these figures with Chinese tourists expected to buy more luxury goods while abroad than all other countries combined.

Gan Zilin of China’s International Travel Service commented “I would strongly recommend every truly luxury travel agent in the business attends ILTM Asia: it is informative, intensive and msot improtantly, it is highly relevant.”

Alison Gilmore, Senior Exhibition Director, ILTM Portfolio said “Products or trips marketed as ‘authentic’, ‘limited edition’ or ‘VIP’ have always appealed to travellers from Asia and especially China. That used to mean shopping for luxury brand and taking snapshots at landscapes, but it now stretches to polar expeditions, cruises and safaris, all of which can be sourced in one place – ILTM Asia 2015.”

ILTM Asia focused on identifying and securing new buyers from Singapore, Japan, Taiwan and Hong Kong, but Australia’s strong economy in recent years resulted in a 15 per cent target increase.

Alison Gilmore added that “ILTM Asia invites only those pan-Asian buyers who have significant business to place with exhibitors from multiple global destinations.”

150 industry media, including LATTE, were present to capture the latest and most important announcements from the show.