Private Luxury Events unveiled details of a new luxury travel show that revitalises the traditional tradeshow format. TFest is billed as the “world’s first luxury travel festival” and will use Artificial Intelligence (AI) to connect buyers and exhibitors at its launch event in Dubai next February.
Based in the UK, Private Luxury Events (PLE) has 15 years of industry experience and operates other events including Private Luxury Forums (in Istanbul, Palm Beach and Montenegro) and Amour, home of romance travel.
The company says it has used insight, research and data from over 100 events to “radically improve the quality of meetings between buyers and exhibitors”.
TFest is a three-day festival that will unite 300 influential buyers from Europe (50%), Asia Pacific (20%), Middle East & Africa (10%), Americas (10%) and the Indian Ocean (10%) with 250 exhibitors from the same regions.
Speaking exclusively with LATTE from Istanbul where TFest was officially announced overnight, Christy Kuplic, Director of Marketing, said that within 24 hours of launching the event, TFest has been contacted by over 400 interested buyers and exhibitors.
“For us 500 is an ideal size to use the technology to create the perfect networking event. We qualify our buyers and suppliers attending, ensuring the right people meet to do business and build lasting relationships,” she said.
Kuplic said the group has many representatives from across Asia Pacific and Australia that attend PLE’s events and are interested in attending TFest.
“We want to grow our market presence in APAC because as a company we are historically leaders in the European regions but just beginning our journey in Asia Pacific. We will continue to increase our footprint in this market by promoting our events and inviting exhibitors, buyers and sponsors to get involved and experience TFest, which is a new and exciting event of its kind.”
The “Festival Hub” centres around six “Festival Zones”: Inspire, Social, Connect, Co-Work & Collaborate; Relax and Explore.
Attendees have guaranteed morning meetings (a total of 40 over three days) with matched buyers or exhibitors. In TFest’s free-flowing afternoons, AI matchmaking tech empowers delegates to break free of strict schedules through personalised recommendations, helping them meet the right people to take their business further.
TFest promises to showcase the freshest brands, ideas, destinations and properties in luxury travel. It features inspiring workshops, insightful thought leaders and offers hundreds of connections for every attendee. By taking the guesswork out of making connections, AI opens the door to hundreds of extra connection opportunities that attendees would otherwise miss.
Richard Barnes, CEO, Private Luxury Events said: “We launched TFest to make personalised connections happen on a larger scale and in real time, at a single celebratory event where our global luxury travel community can come together. We believe AI matchmaking technology will reshape the networking industry and give delegates at our events a better experience, where they have complete control of every interaction and get a better return on their valuable time. It’s going to transform B2B networking by helping everyone get the outcomes they want.”
To be held from 23-27 February 2020, the host venue will be Atlantis, The Palm, Dubai.
See www.travel-fest.com for more information.