Luxury travel to come under the spotlight at WTM London

In the session – Luxury travel in 2019: how to stay relevant to the affluent traveller, moderated by editor of ttgluxury April Hutchinson – experts covering content, marketing and destination positioning will share their insight on trends and changes they are seeing, and how brands should respond and lead.

Panelists include two tourist offices with a high level of luxury and experiential product - Cathy Tull, chief marketing officer at Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and Lisa Cooper, account director – Trade & Representation, British Columbia.

Anna Masing, acting head of food, beverage & hospitality for Stylus, an innovation research and advisory company whose insights cover 40 consumer-facing industries, will also join the panel. With a special interest in the future of travel and hospitality, Masing tracks and reports on innovation and industry trends, alongside covering restaurants, sustainability and food innovation.

Alongside Masing will be Kate Warner, product and PR manager for Black Tomato, a specialist in creating “boundary-pushing and transformative experiences” for clients, Warner said.

They will be joined by Chris Donnelly, founder of Verb Brands, a luxury digital agency which he launched while still at university when 21 years old. It is now one of the most recognised luxury digital agencies in the world, with offices in London and Los Angeles.

Donnelly will look at what strategies brands should be adopting in the digital space and why some luxury companies have been slow or reluctant to adapt.

“With the expectations and demands of luxury travellers ever changing, how can brands stay focused on what drives, and is relevant to, this lucrative audience?” said Hutchinson. “We can no longer assume we know what luxury consumers want or how they want to spend their money – every customer is different and constantly changing and travel brands must pay more heed to this. Traditionally luxury and luxury travel brands have been glacial in change, but they need to be more dynamic – we will discuss all this and more.”

• The session, Luxury travel in 2019: how to stay relevant to the affluent traveller, will take place in the Americas Inspiration zone at 16.00-17.00 on Monday.