Luxury Tourism Market Trends, Changing Paradigms, and Best Practices

Prof. Dr. Roland Conrady Since 2002, Prof. Dr. Roland Conrady has been a professor at the tourism/transport department of the Worms University of Applied Sciences. His research and teaching focuses on aviation, tourism and digitalization. Since 2004, Roland Conrady has also been the Scientific Director of the world's largest tourism convention, the ITB Berlin Convention. He was president of the German Society for Tourism Science (DGT) e.V. and is a book author (among others Conrady, R./Fichert, F./Sterzenbach, R., Luftverkehr, Munich 2019). Roland Conrady is a member of various advisory boards of companies and politics. Previously, he was head of the study program "Electronic Business" and Professor of General Business Administration at the University of Applied Sciences Heilbronn. After graduating as Dr. rer. pol. from the University of Cologne in 1990, he held various management positions at Deutsche Lufthansa AG until 1998.

David Ruetz (Head of ITB) hasheaded the ITB Berlin, The World's Leading Travel Trade Show®. Under his direction, ITB Berlin has seen many achievements, including the Innovation Award the Federal Association of the German Tourism Industry (BTW). As part of the management of ITB, he was significantly responsible for the establishment of the ITB Asia in Singapore (since 2008) and also helped to introduce the ITB China in Shanghai (premiere in May 2017). After his studies in Zurich and Berlin, David Ruetz entered tourism and the event industry and joined Messe Berlin in 2001. He is editor, author, and co-author of numerous studies and books on trends and developments in the exhibition, travel and tourism industry, among others the annual World Travel Trends Reports. His interests include digitalization in the trade fair and event sector. As a guest lecturer he regularly works at universities in Germany and Austria and is also a member of the advisory board of R.I.F.E.L. e. V. (Research Institute for Exhibition and Live-Communication), the IUBH - International University and (until 2018), and as a Member of the Executive Board of Research Association for Holidays and Travel (FUR).

Marc Aeberhard  founded Luxury Hotel & Spa Management Ltd. in Zurich in 2004 and has been acting as Managing Director ever since. The company has access to a global network of travel trade partners, lifestyle and travel media and (U)HNWI and works closely with public relations and sales & marketing agencies in Frankfurt, Munich, Paris, Dubai, Milan, New York, Hong Kong and London. Furthermore, the native Swiss is a member of the consulting networks of the Gerson Lehmann Group, USA and Hotellerie Suisse, Bern. He also takes on an active in the "Luxury" task force of the management of ITB Berlin, Germany. As author and co-author of various specialist publications, his name can be found regularly. He also holds guest lectures in Berlin, Istanbul, Lausanne, Lucerne, Munich, Singapore, Stuttgart, Thun, Vienna, Worms, Zurich etc. The graduate hotelier graduated with distinction from the Ecole Hôtelière de Lausanne (EHL) and previously completed his studies in business administration as lic.rer.pol. (MBA) at the University of Bern. The luxury hotelier has more than 20 years of experience in the fields of hotel opening, management and renovation/refurbishment in Abu Dhabi, Germany, France, Maldives, Morocco, Seychelles, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand, Ukraine and Cyprus of small hotels in high and top end. Many of the hotels have been awarded international prizes. All projects are based on the definition of New Luxury and work according to the principles of the Triple Bottomline.