ILTM Cannes has reported a growth of 12 per cent year on year with over 10,000 attendees
The 23rd edition of ILTM Cannes, the world’s leading luxury travel event, took place from December 2 to 5 last year, marking the largest edition of the event to date and set a new record with over 85,000 scheduled meetings.
Luxury travel brands, experiences, destinations and suppliers enjoyed a week of building and strengthening connections with international travel planners, curators and agencies marking the fact that the luxury travel industry is booming. Over 2,350 buyers from 84 countries – 30 per cent new to the event - met with over 2,350 brands from 105 countries, alongside an extensive programme of networking events.
The global flagship event for the ILTM Portfolio began with an opening forum, addressing an audience of more than 3,000 and featuring three inspirational presentations for the global luxury travel community. Merryn Somerset Webb, senior columnist for Bloomberg Opinion and host of the Merryn Talks Money podcast, voiced optimism around the upcoming largest transfer of wealth from the baby boomers. Monocle’s editorial director, Tyler Brûlé, expressed a need to return to less high-tech hotel services. And TJ Abrams, VP of global well-being at Hyatt, and Alison Gilmore, Portfolio Director ILTM, unveiled a new wellness research conducted by Altiant, in partnership with Hyatt and ILTM.
The survey of 800 people across global markets revealed that “health is the new wealth,” with 74 per cent of travellers integrating wellness into their routines.
ILTM welcomed some new dedicated areas: a dedicated Accor ‘Grand Pavilion’ on the Palais beach, a new Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) hospitality terrace, Belmond had journey through an experimental pavilion, a new CannesX lifestyle brand bar on the ground floor.
Other newcomers included the tourism boards of Australia, Egypt and Mauritius and destinations increasing their presence significantly included California, Brazil, Oman, Japan and Croatia.
Luxury travel brands significantly increasing their footprint at ILTM 2024 included Accor (within their beachfront new pavilion), Hilton Luxury brands, Hyatt Hotels, InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Leading Hotels of the World, Preferred and Marriott International Luxury brands.
ILTM Cannes also hosted over 100 of the world’s most influential travel editors from publications and platforms that are the voice of luxury travel to their high-net-worth readers and communities around the world. Exhibitors had the opportunity to meet them through speed networking, press conferences and one-to-one meetings organised over the course of the week.
ILTM Cannes returns December 1 to 4, 2025. Other ILTM event dates next year include ILTM Latin America, Sao Paulo May 5 – 8; ILTM Asia Pacific, Singapore: June 30 to July 3; and ILTM North America, Baha Mar, Bahamas: October 6 to 9.