What was the inspiration for merging ILTM’s many events into a single World Tour? How will the new show aim to target different markets?
ILTM World Tour – access all areas will compensate for the postponed ILTM events in 2020 and provide an environment for international luxury travel brands and regional buyer communities to virtually meet to connect and build their businesses.
While we know that virtual events will never replace our love to meet and share stories in person, we know that right now, what counts the most is getting business lined up for 2021. We cannot predict the timing of when growth will come back, but we can be ready for whenever it happens.
What details can you reveal about the format and content of this event?
We have created something very different – a world tour that will take place for four hours a day, for three days over three weeks, (covering) three buyer source regions. It all starts with the sunrise in Asia Pacific; follows the sun north to Europe, Middle East and Africa; then finally crosses the Atlantic to both North and South America.
With some 2,000 participants, each event is a refined version of the annual ILTM in that region so we have given suppliers the opportunity to pick one, two or all three weeks. The ILTM World Tour is representative of the world of ILTM’s portfolio of events, so the content will reflect that. It will also be available to all participants, so they can choose when they want to watch it during the three days of each week across three weeks.
There will be content included with keynote sessions announced each day. We want them to be a surprise to those registered so I’m not going to give away too much right now.
As much of international travel is still difficult at this time, what lessons are you learning about the ILTM and luxury travel community through the past months?
2020 has been a tough year for everyone. The luxury travel industry has suffered as a result of the unprecedented events, and it has meant adapting their business strategies. With target markets shifting as some borders remain closed, we want the ILTM World Tour to open up opportunities for all participants, as well as to bring people together, uniting through shared experiences and business, whilst we plan for our return.
The ILTM World Tour is about offering all of the regions of the world – (places) where we would have had an ILTM event this year – an alternative opportunity to meet together. It doesn’t replace (attending) an ILTM in any of these countries, but we know by the response to it that the world’s luxury travel industry needed an event to happen this year, and this is the biggest we could create virtually.
But we don’t expect anyone to sit in front of a screen for hours on end. With short days and regular breaks, this is as much about self-care as it is business. It cannot replace face-to-face, but it can pave the way for a stronger 2021.
WWF, in cooperation with GlobeScan, recently released the findings of an extensive study conducted to understand the main drivers and motivations of Chinese outbound travellers to purchase ivory products abroad and suggest targeted interventions to curtail demand among this group of travellers once international travel resumes in the new normal.
The study, which was conducted between August 2019 and January 2020, surveyed 3,011 outbound Chinese travellers to Cambodia, Hong Kong, Japan, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam in the previous two years.
The results revealed that one in 10 Chinese travellers (11 per cent) had planned to purchase ivory prior to their trip. This was especially true for those travelling to Thailand (21 per cent), Japan (19 per cent), and Hong Kong (17 per cent).
More than half the people who reported buying ivory said they did so as a gift for a friend or family member, while a quarter did so as a gift for a business relation, shared Daniel Bergin, senior project manager, GlobeScan, when presenting the results via Zoom on November 10.
He also shared that 22 per cent of surveyed travellers had someone recommend visiting an ivory retailer, with almost a quarter of travellers having visited at least one shop that sold ivory.
Recommendations to visit these shops were mostly given by local tour guides (60 per cent) and staff at tourist information centres (37 per cent).
Karen Xue, director of WWF’s Ivory Initiative, shared: “The fact that ivory purchases are being facilitated by those working in the travel and tourism industry in destination countries is worrying, but also presents a good opportunity for targeted interventions.
“If we can change the behaviour of these tourism sector actors, we can greatly reduce the chances that travellers have to purchase ivory while abroad.”
When assessing the authenticity of the ivory, nearly half of the travellers surveyed (47 per cent) relied on authenticating documents provided by the sellers to determine if the ivory was real.
Of those that bought ivory, 44 per cent of consumers mailed it home to mainland China, either personally or through the retailer, while 28 per cent carried it back with them.
Jan Vertefeuille, senior advisor on advocacy in wildlife conservation for WWF, said: “These findings show that creative demand reduction efforts and interventions with the private sector are key if we want to keep Chinese outbound travellers from taking ivory home.
“If we can discredit the documentation that identifies ivory as ‘authentic’ or get courier companies to cooperate with our counter wildlife trafficking efforts, we can disrupt the flow of elephant ivory into China.”
Another key finding of the report revealed that 17 per cent of Chinese outbound travellers think it is legal to bring ivory back to mainland China.
Thus, among GlobeScan’s recommendations to WWF was to educate the Chinese public that it is illegal to transport ivory across borders under any circumstances and to have campaigns dissuading Chinese travellers from purchasing ivory.
Other recommendations included targeting courier and delivery companies in their campaigns to reduce illegal cross-border transportation as it has been found that sending ivory and rhino horn products by mail is the most popular method of transporting it back to mainland China.
As the Lunar New Year and Golden Week Holidays combined accounted for more than half the trips undertaken by outbound travellers to the seven destinations in the study, it was also recommended that campaigns be organised targeting these two peak periods.
GlobeScan also suggested devising campaigns against the practice of buying ivory as a gift. A poll conducted during the online unveiling of the findings where participants were asked what non-ivory, wildlife-friendly souvenir they thought would make a popular alternative saw the majority of respondents (44 per cent) voting for local artisan crafts, followed by gems and minerals (21 per cent).
This study builds on previous consumer surveys about the elephant ivory trade in China conducted by GlobeScan for WWF which looks at changes in attitudes and purchases since China banned its domestic ivory trade on December 31, 2017. Following this historic decision, WWF initiated a global initiative addressing the supply and demand of ivory products which is embedded in its multifaceted strategy to tackle the illegal wildlife trade around the world.