Taking place on Monday 3 June at the Shanghai Theatre, Portman Ritz-Carlton, Shanghai, the ILTM Asia 2013 Opening Forum will hear from leading industry experts who will discuss the ongoing rise of the region’s luxury travel industry and explore opportunities to build business across the region.
ILTM Asia 2013 takes place from 3 – 6 June, inviting and hosting nearly 500 elite travel agents and advisors from 19 countries across the region to meet with a guest list of up to 500 global luxury travel suppliers in over 25,000 one-to-one pre-scheduled appointments. These meetings match mutual requests from buyers and exhibitors alike.
The ILTM Asia Opening Forum is a live debate that will this year introduce Dr Pierre Xiao Lu, an international expert of luxury brand management, HNWI and affluent consumer behaviour who will present an overview of ‘Elite China, Chinese Luxury Consumers’. Two panel interviews follow, the first discussing ‘Trends amongst Pan Asian travellers’ which will welcome Janet Tan-Collis of East West Travel and David Chai, Director of Product Development, Tidesquare; and the second addressing ‘Building loyal communities among Asian travellers’ and featuring Markus Engel of Urban Resorts Concepts and Michael Hobson of Mandarin Oriental.
The Opening Forum will also feature a special guest interview with Yat-Cheng (YC) Koh, President, American Express Asia Card Services who will offer his views on the growth of Asian high-net worth individuals and their spending habits. He will be interviewed by the Forum’s moderator, international journalist Lorraine Hahn.
Alison Gilmore, ILTM Asia Exhibition Director, commented: “The concept of the Opening Forum is to launch ILTM Asia with both content and debate to give all our participants – exhibitors and hosted buyers – real insights into regional trends, issues and successes as well as some thought provoking highlights to set the scene for their three days of business building. We are delighted to welcome such an influential line up of speakers for what is bound to be a lively and enlightening debate”.
The ILTM Asia Opening Forum will be pre-ceeded by a series of seminars designed to help the industry understand the region’s many cultures and specific luxury travel trends. Taking place from 2.30pm, also at The Portman Ritz-Carlton, topics will include: China outbound travel growth projections 2013-2015; Understanding trends in Asia’s secondary emerging markets; Creating authentic guest experiences;
Gastronomy for the Asia Pacific Traveller; and India outbound travel growth projections 2013-2015.
The ILTM Asia 2013 Opening Forum will take place on Monday 3 June between 5pm and 7pm. ILTM Asia continues from 4 - 6 June 2015.
For the full event programme, please visit www.iltm.net/asia/programme
ASIA – Racepoint Group
CC Lau
Tel: +86 21 5169 2005 | Ext: 108
Email: clau@racepointgroup.com
UK – CUT Communications
Lucy Clifton/Charlene Sarao
Tel: +44 (0)20 8334 4008/7
Email: lucy.clifton@cut-coms.co.uk / charlene.sarao@cut-coms.co.uk