By Patrick Koune
In an interview with Luxe Infinity Magazines, Marie Alliantaz, the new director of theIFTM, unveils the objectives of the 2026 edition and its vision for the future of the show. Artificial intelligence, commercial performance, sustainable transition, media and high-end travel: the event now aims to help professionals understand and manage the changes in tourism.
Making IFTM a management tool for the sector
At the helm of IFTM during a period of profound transformation in tourism, Marie Alliantaz has a clear ambition: to evolve the trade fair beyond its traditional function as a professional showcase.
Consumer habits are changing, traveler expectations are evolving, business models are being reshaped, and technology is playing an increasingly important role in distribution, marketing, and customer relations. Faced with these changes, the trade show must become both a hub for the industry and a true management tool.
The trajectory initiated in 2024 will take on a new dimension in 2026 with the theme "The Value of Travel". The objective will no longer be simply to present destinations and innovations, but to demonstrate what tourism concretely produces for businesses, regions, and professionals.
"The value of travel," the central theme of the 2026 edition
This value will be studied through three complementary pillars: economic and territorial, human and relational, sustainable and collective.
The first area of focus will examine the evolution of business models, value chains, and intermediation roles. Data and artificial intelligence will be addressed in particular as drivers of competitiveness, through the IFTM x EPSA Barometer dedicated to business travel, the MICE Barometer produced with Kactus, and several conferences dedicated to tourism strategies.
The human dimension will remain just as essential. The competitions at the show, Travel Agents Cup, Travel Agents Cup Junior, Orchestra Start-Up Contest, Business Travel Awards, Innovation Trophies or Plume Verte IFTM x ADONET will highlight the talents and new generations of professionals.
Finally, the third pillar will focus on lasting impacts and the tools used to measure them. A responsible transition will thus be presented as a factor in competitiveness, cooperation, and trust.
Supporting artificial intelligence without dehumanizing the journey
Artificial intelligence is already transforming tourism distribution, the personalization of offers, and the relationship with travelers. For Marie Alliantaz, it's not a matter of passively accepting this evolution or presenting it as a universal solution, but of examining it with clear-sightedness.
Le AI Barometer of the Technological Tourism Club This will provide professionals with concrete benchmarks on the progress of these new uses. Several conferences will also address their technical aspects, risks, and consequences for organizations.
La TechZone will also offer a new immersive experience, culminating in the recreation of an agency specializing in direct booking of cruisesTraining sessions will also help travel agents integrate artificial intelligence into their work.
The director, however, reiterates an essential principle: technology must remain at the service of human interaction and relationships, never replace them.
More easily measurable business performance
Exhibitors are no longer just looking for visibility. They now want to identify qualified contacts and precisely measure the return on investment of their participation.
To meet this expectation, the Business Club is changing its location and launching a matchmaking program based on pre-qualified appointments between exhibitors and corporate buyers. These meetings will be organized in advance using the Everywhere platform, which had already facilitated 16,725 business meetings in 2025.
The Colleqt system, based on QR codes, will facilitate contact collection, while Lead Manager It will allow users to scan visitor badges. According to the figures provided, this generates an average of 32 additional contacts for its users.
All this data will be compiled in an exhibitor dashboard to measure appointments, leads, and business opportunities generated. For visitors, the IFTM Now web app will bring together the interactive floor plan, the conference program, and the list of exhibitors.
Making responsible tourism a laboratory for action
Responsible transition must not remain merely institutional rhetoric. The Village of Sustainable Initiatives by mN'O will therefore return for a second edition with collective intelligence workshops, round tables, micro-trainings, Stand Up for the Planet sessions and a Tourism Fresco.
Personalized tours, led by students trained in sustainable development issues, will also allow visitors to discover the initiatives presented at the fair.
New companies offering innovative solutions will join this edition. Podcasts will also be recorded live with the (X)perientiel media outlet to continue the discussions long after the event has concluded.
Preserve the place of in-depth journalism
The rise of social media and content creators is transforming the relationship between tourism stakeholders and the media. Marie Alliantaz, however, asserts that this evolution should not come at the expense of journalistic work.
The IFTM x ADONET Green Pen award recognizes journalists who cover sustainability issues with rigor. Meanwhile, the Media Village by Travel-Insight will bring together journalists, production companies, content creators, and advertising agencies.
Journalists will also have a dedicated space, an interview area, access to the business matchmaking platform, and priority entry to the show.
Luxury travel, a high value-added market
Luxury will occupy an important place during the 2026 edition. Despite economic uncertainties, this segment continues to demonstrate strong resilience and remains strategic for both destinations and tourism businesses.
A conference entitled "Luxury: An Ultra-High Value-Added Market" will analyze the value creation mechanisms within this sector. The offering will also be enhanced by the presence of specialists in high-end travel to the Middle East and major premium hotel chains.
For IFTM, however, luxury is no longer limited to five-star hotels. It now encompasses exclusivity, personalization, wellness, gastronomy, private mobility, and immersive cultural experiences.
This diversification will be illustrated in particular by the presence of Blacklane, an international specialist in premium chauffeur-driven transport, but also by the Destination France route, designed to showcase the know-how and authentic experiences of the territories.
The ambition is to reflect a more transversal vision of luxury, based on the overall quality of the journey, the uniqueness of the experiences and the attention paid to the traveler.
Uzbekistan: The Rise of Highly Desirable Cultural Destinations
The choice ofUzbekistan As the featured country, it perfectly illustrates this new geography of luxury. At the crossroads of the Silk Road, with its UNESCO-listed cities and investments in tourism infrastructure, the destination embodies the search for authenticity, heritage, and emotionally charged cultural experiences. It symbolizes the rise of still-pristine territories, capable of offering rarity, meaning, and storytelling.
This destination perfectly embodies the current shift in tourism towards a model based on cultural value, meaning, and rarity. Through the powerful imagery of the Silk Road and cities like Samarkand ou BukharaThe country offers a tourism product capable of meeting the expectations of a high-end clientele seeking knowledge, profound experiences and still preserved territories.
This positioning comes at a pivotal moment when major historical destinations are saturated and professionals are seeking new, distinctive geographical locations. Uzbekistan is precisely in the process of transitioning from a niche destination to a future benchmark for international cultural travel, thanks to a carefully managed opening, modernized infrastructure, and a highly visible soft power strategy.
In the context of IFTM, the topic therefore goes beyond simply showcasing a country: it provides a concrete illustration of how tourist desirability is created today, how new flows emerge, and how travel industry players can develop high-contribution offerings. Uzbekistan thus becomes a revealing example of the profound transformations in the market.
New ambitions for 2027 and 2028
Although the planned format changes for future editions remain confidential, several directions have already been announced.
The Business Club's Matchmaking program is set to be strengthened from 2027 onwards, with more meetings and new buyer profiles. International outreach will also remain a key focus, notably through the annual spotlight on a different country and the development of regional events such as the Africa Convention.
Destination France should also gain in importance thanks to collective intelligence workshops, visitor itineraries and micro-trainings designed to support territories and their professionals.
The meeting place for an entire profession
Nearly 1,700 exhibiting brands and more than 34,000 professionals are expected in September 2026, compared to 32,022 professional visitors in 2025. In three days, IFTM will allow you to meet a wide variety of destinations, buyers, exhibitors and prescribers.
Nearly one hundred conferences, workshops, and roundtables will cover the main challenges facing the sector. Barometers, forward-looking conferences, discussion forums, and participatory workshops will make up a program designed to inform, educate, and foster exchange.
Through this interview, Marie Alliantaz outlines the contours of a more strategic, measurable, and cross-sectoral trade show. The 2026 edition will not only seek to present the tourism of tomorrow, but also to give professionals the tools to understand it, anticipate it, and measure its true value.
Why IFTM is becoming the laboratory for high value-added tourism
During this edition, IFTM transcends its role as a trade show to become a space for the intellectual structuring of the industry. It allows for putting actions undertaken into perspective, measuring their impact, and building more transparent and resilient models. It becomes the place where the value chain, economic models, and the very notion of tourism performance are redefined.
What this trade show highlights is clear: travel is no longer a product, but an asset. An economic, cultural, emotional, and territorial asset. For the luxury sector, this shift is a major opportunity because it puts experience, relationships, and the creation of meaning back at the heart of the model.
The future of premium travel will no longer be measured in kilometers traveled, but in value created, more meaning than flow.
