THE LEADING LUXURY TRAVEL EXHIBITION

20th Anniversary of Luxury Travel Mart

​The year 2004 witnessed the birth of the first worldwide social network, the launch of the world's first privately controlled suborbital spacecraft SpaceShipOne into space, 17-year-old Maria Sharapova becoming the first Russian to win the Wimbledon tennis tournament, and the creation of the luxury tourism exhibition Luxury Travel Mart in Moscow.

Its organizers were not pioneers, similar events were held all over the world at the time. Nevertheless, Luxury Travel Mart became the first international independent exhibition to gather various participants of the luxury travel segment interested in the CIS market.

The launch of the exhibition at the Baltschug Kempinski Hotel brought together just over 40 exhibitors, including representatives of famous hotel companies: Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, Mandarin Oriental, The Ritz-Carlton, Kempinski Hotels and Resorts. Lada Samodumskaya​ became a real LTM Ambassador as one of the first people to support the project and believe in it.

Luxury Travel Mart was organized by Travel Media, a trailblazer in marketing and sales for luxury hotels, and Artem Polansky,​ a specialist with extensive experience of working for an international hotel corporation.

Throughout its history, the exhibition moved three times, and all three sites - Baltschug Kempinski, The Ritz-Carlton, Moscow and Hyatt Regency Petrovsky Park Hotel - were ideal partners, providing impeccable service and invaluable support, and most importantly, presenting LTM with opportunities for future growth.

In just a few years, the exhibition gained the reputation as the most productive event in the luxury tourism industry due to its system of pre-arranged meetings and the program of invited professional buyers, coordinated by one of the authority figures in the​ industry, Konstantin Yakushev. It was painstaking and difficult work, but it was compensated by the gratitude and admiration of the travel agency representatives who came to Luxury Travel Mart to enjoy the company of the most famous hoteliers from all over the world. Luxury Travel Mart became, in all probability,​ the exhibition that gave impetus to many foreign companies to realize the scale and importance of the Russian luxury travel market.

Over twenty years, many changes have occurred: the Moscow exhibition has grown from a one-day to a two-day exhibition. Professional buyers from Russian regions and CIS countries received their own “personal” day to meet the participants. Moreover, on this day it is the professional buyers who sit at their desks, and the participants come to meet them. The format of the “reversal day” was enjoyed​ by all - the exhibitors and the professional buyers. The second day of the exhibition, according to the standard scheme when the workplaces are occupied by participants, is designed for guests from the regions of Russia and the CIS, as well as for the Moscow agencies. In total, over two days of LTM, each participant and guest has 50 pre-arranged meetings.

The exhibition in Moscow never stopped growing, in a couple of years the number of its participants reached five hundred. Just as many professional buyers arrived at the event from Russia and the CIS countries. Hotels were fully booked for them (the exhibition covers travel costs and accommodation), thousands of bottles of champagne and tens of thousands of fresh tulips were bought. Luxury Travel Mart, in addition to its efficient work, has always been famous for its large-scale evening entertainment program. Among the stars who performed at the exhibition over the years were Dmitry Malikov, Lolita Milyavskaya, Alena Sviridova, Polina Gagarina, Angelika Varum, Shura, Yulia Savicheva, Eva Polna, ViaGra, and many others.

In 2024, Luxury Travel Mart will celebrate its 20th anniversary. This time it is shaping up to be the most ambitious in the history of its existence, and the organizers have planned many surprises. You are cordially invited to become part of this significant event!