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ILTM 2007’s opening conference, which debated the impact of global warming, highlighted the need for the luxury travel industry to embrace the challenge of responsible tourism in order to survive and progress.

Last month saw more than 3000 luxury travel industry leaders come together at the sixth International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), which took place at Le Palais des Festivals et des Congrès in Cannes.

The main theme for the event was responsible tourism and the impact of climate change on the travel industry as a whole. The subject was the key focus of the opening conference, with organisers keen to use ILTM as a platform to facilitate debate on the topic.

ILTM 2007 welcomed more than 3500 attendees from an increased 110 countries worldwide, who took part in 47,000 pre-matched appointments. Newcomers at the event included The Valencia Tourism Convention Bureau, Slovenian Tourist Board and the Luxury Train Club, plus a number of new exhibitors from Japan.

The invitation only-policy ensured that ‘A-List' travel buyers and arrangers in attendance from around the world had access to the highest quality business opportunities.

One of the highlights of the event included the launch of new research that revealed how luxury travel worldwide is booming and is one of the best performing sectors of the travel business, with many countries currently enjoying between 10% and 20% annual growth (World Wealth Report - Merrill Lynch and Capgemini).

ATN spoke to travel industry professionals both regionally and globally to find out what ILTM and its research means to them and to discover what travel trends they believe will emerge for 2008.

Responsible tourism

An encouraging 750 delegates attended ILTM's opening conference on the impact of global warming, which highlighted the need for the luxury travel industry to embrace the challenge of responsible tourism in order to survive and progress.

ILTM marketing manager Brad Monaghan says: "The issues of climate change and the impact of global warming are pertinent to the travel industry and there was passionate feedback from delegates last year which needed to be addressed. That's one of the main reasons we made it the key focus of the opening conference for 2007. As a leader in the luxury travel market, ILTM offers the perfect platform from which to facilitate debate on the topic."

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