Travel Associates represented the Australian luxury travel market at the inaugural New York City Tourism + Conventions’ Luxury Business Expo, hosted last week in New York City. As the official and exclusive Australian travel partner of New York City Tourism + Convention, the luxury retail brand was the only Aussie company in attendance.
Rachel Kingswell, General Manager of Travel Associates Australia & New Zealand and Christine Bottrell, Business Leader, Ashmore, Harris & James Travel Associates were joined by nine other luxury travel markets, including the UK, India, China, Japan and others.
Global attendees experienced some of city’s newest luxury products available for high end travellers including an exclusive hard-hat tour of the Waldorf Astoria, reopening after seven years this December, an evening VIP tour of the Museum of Modern Art and many of the city’s most famous attractions.
Hosted by Reginald Charlot, Senior Vice President, Tourism Market Development at NYC Tourism the Luxury Business Expo was a celebration of New York City’s newest luxury experiences, brought to life with an agenda of strategic meetings with tourism and hospitality suppliers and exclusive luxury product previews.
“The experiences we’ve had representing Australia at the Luxury Business Expo have reaffirmed New York City as a one- of-a-kind destination for luxury travellers that is forever evolving and presenting new and exciting reasons to revisit,” Kingswell said.
“The exclusive insights we’ve gained will allow our partnership with New York City Tourism + Conventions to continue to thrive as it enables us to expand our New York City offering to our luxury clients.”Travel Associates was selected as New York City Tourism + Conventions official travel partner in the Australian market for 2024 in December 2023 and has since activated a comprehensive marketing partnership to accelerate luxury sales to the iconic city. The latest instalment of the Travel Associates campaign includes a partnership with luxury influencer Jessica Dover, including the development of a bespoke shoppable itinerary for Travel Associates’ clients inspired by Jessica’s content.
While only halfway through the 2024 partnership, Travel Associates has reported a year-on-year uplift in Business Class flights to New York City of whopping 170 per cent.
Donna K. Keren, Executive Vice President of Research & Insights at NYC Tourism reported that the tourism body’s most recent survey data revealed that 42% of Australian travellers booked their flights with a tour operator or travel advisor, well above the global market average of 25 per cent.
1. Reginald Charlot, SVP Tourism Market Development, NYC Tourism and Rachel Kingswell, General Manager, Travel Associates AU/NZ / 2. Kingswell and Christine Bottrell, Business Leader, Ashmore Harris & James Travel Associates / 3. Hard hat tour of the Waldorf Astoria, New York / 4. An exclusive VIP MoMA After Hours Experience for Kingswell, pictured with Vincent van Gogh’s The Starry Night painting.Lead image: Reginald Charlot, Senior Vice President, Tourism Market Development, New York City Tourism + Conventions; Rachel Kingswell, General Manager of Travel Associates Australia & New Zealand and Christine Bottrell, Business Leader, Ashmore, Harris & James Travel Associates.
