You need to be present when the dream begins, not when the booking happens.
En una mañana de mayo en Barcelona, los actores del turismo de lujo se reunieron para enfrentar una verdad incómoda: el viajero adinerado ya no empieza a soñar en una agencia, sino en la pantalla de su teléfono. AVASA Travel Group convocó a expertos en marketing digital, aviación y hospitalidad para explorar cómo la industria puede estar presente en ese instante fugaz —y decisivo— en que nace el deseo de viajar. La pregunta de fondo no era tecnológica sino humana: ¿cómo acompaña una industria centenaria a un cliente que ahora se inspira en TikTok antes de levantar el teléfono?
- El viajero de alto poder adquisitivo ya toma sus primeras decisiones en plataformas de vídeo vertical, dejando atrás los canales tradicionales donde las agencias históricamente han tenido presencia.
- Si las agencias no aparecen en el momento de la inspiración digital, pierden al cliente antes de que este siquiera considere llamarlas.
- Los ponentes apostaron por la autenticidad y la curaduría personalizada como respuesta: experiencias genuinas en Europa, cabinas de primera línea y hoteles de lujo contemporáneo frente al itinerario estándar.
- El sector busca integrar talento en marketing digital y presencia social sin sacrificar la expertise humana que ningún algoritmo puede replicar.
- La conclusión del encuentro fue clara: el valor de la agencia de viajes ya no reside en gestionar transacciones, sino en guiar sueños desde su primer destello.
Un martes de finales de mayo, el sector del turismo premium se dio cita en el hotel Casa Fuster de Barcelona con una pregunta en el centro de la jornada: ¿está la industria presente cuando sus clientes empiezan a imaginar su próximo viaje? AVASA Travel Group organizó esta nueva edición de AVASA Collection reuniendo a especialistas en marketing digital, hospitalidad, aviación y turismo de lujo para debatir un cambio que ya no admite demora.
La especialista en TikTok Long Li Xue abrió el debate trazando el nuevo mapa de la inspiración: el vídeo vertical y las redes sociales se han convertido en el primer motor de decisión del viajero adinerado. La consecuencia es directa —quien no esté ahí, ya ha perdido al cliente. Niccolo Mazzi y Diego Rivero, de DiVitA, añadieron otra capa: los viajeros de alto nivel ya no buscan los circuitos de siempre, sino encuentros auténticos con Europa a través de Francia, Italia y Grecia.
En el ámbito de la aviación, Sandrine Salmon presentó la cabina Première de Air France, KLM y Delta como expresión máxima del lujo en cada etapa del trayecto, mientras representantes de Prestige Hotels, Keytel y Bless Ibiza mostraron cómo los alojamientos contemporáneos pueden integrarse en propuestas de alto valor para clientes exigentes.
Fue Carlos López Bahillo, director general de AVASA, quien cerró la jornada con la síntesis más nítida: el viajero ha cambiado de forma estructural, investiga en canales nuevos y espera propuestas a medida. El futuro de las agencias no pasa por gestionar reservas, sino por estar presentes en el momento en que nace el sueño —y ofrecer lo que ningún algoritmo puede dar: criterio experto y curaduría genuinamente personalizada.
On a Tuesday in late May, the luxury travel industry gathered in Barcelona to wrestle with a deceptively simple question: Are we actually there when our customers start to dream?
AVASA Travel Group hosted the latest edition of AVASA Collection at the Casa Fuster, a storied hotel in the Catalan capital, bringing together specialists in digital marketing, hospitality, aviation, and premium tourism. The day's organizing principle was urgent and direct—the moment a wealthy traveler begins to imagine their next journey is no longer confined to a travel agent's office or a glossy brochure. It happens on TikTok. It happens in Instagram feeds. It happens in the spaces where inspiration now lives, and the industry needed to reckon with that shift.
Long Li Xue, a digital content creator and TikTok specialist, opened the conversation by laying out the landscape: vertical video and social platforms have become the primary engines of luxury travel inspiration. The implication was clear—if agencies and operators weren't present in those moments, they were already losing the client. Niccolo Mazzi and Diego Rivero, representing DiVitA, followed with a different angle: the hunger among affluent travelers for authenticity. They described a philosophy centered on rediscovering Europe not through its famous circuits but through genuine, experiential encounters in France, Italy, and Greece. The pitch was that contemporary luxury travelers wanted something different from the standard itinerary.
The aviation segment brought its own proposition. Sandrine Salmon, representing Air France, KLM, and Delta, presented the Première cabin as the apex of exclusivity and service in the premium segment—a reminder that the luxury experience extends beyond the destination into every touchpoint of the journey. Later, speakers from Prestige Hotels and Keytel outlined how contemporary luxury properties could be woven into high-value packages for discerning clients, while Ana Bistagne presented Bless Ibiza as an example of experiential, contemporary luxury designed specifically for the premium traveler.
The day concluded with a tour of the Casa Fuster itself, guided by the hotel's international sales leadership, followed by a working lunch. But the real substance lay in what Carlos López Bahillo, AVASA's general director, articulated in his closing remarks. The traveler has fundamentally changed. They research differently. They find inspiration in new channels. They expect proposals tailored to their specific desires, not mass-market packages. The role of travel agencies, he argued, is no longer simply to book trips—it's to be present at the moment the dream begins, to guide clients through channels they're already using, and to offer something no algorithm can: genuine expertise and personalized curation. For agencies to survive and thrive, they need to understand that their value now depends on meeting clients where inspiration happens, not where transactions traditionally occurred.
Citas Notables
Encounters like AVASA Collection are valuable because they bring together specialized agencies, partners, and experts around topics that directly affect how premium travel is now inspired, prescribed, and sold.— Carlos López Bahillo, General Director of AVASA Travel Group
The traveler profile has changed: they inform themselves differently, find inspiration in new channels, and expect much more personalized proposals. It's fundamental that agencies are present in those key moments, including on social media where the travel decision often begins.— Carlos López Bahillo, AVASA Travel Group
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why does it matter whether travel agencies show up on TikTok? Isn't that just another marketing channel?
It's not about the platform itself—it's about where the decision actually starts. A wealthy traveler scrolling TikTok at night isn't yet ready to call an agent. They're dreaming. But that's the moment they're most open to inspiration. If an agency isn't there, someone else is shaping what they think is possible.
So the industry is worried they're invisible at the wrong moment?
Exactly. They've been very good at closing sales, at handling logistics, at delivering experiences. But the inspiration phase—that's moved upstream, into spaces they traditionally didn't think of as their territory. The conference was essentially saying: you need to be there earlier, or you lose the narrative entirely.
What does a luxury traveler actually want that's different now?
Authenticity, mostly. Not the famous landmarks everyone knows. They want to feel like insiders, like they're discovering something real. Contemporary luxury isn't about opulence anymore—it's about access to genuine experience. That's harder to sell through traditional channels.
And the airlines and hotels—are they ahead of the agencies on this?
They're moving faster. Air France has Première. Bless Ibiza has a whole aesthetic built around contemporary experience. But they still need the agencies to connect them to clients. The real shift is that agencies can't just be order-takers anymore. They have to be curators who understand both the digital landscape and the client's deeper desires.
What happens to agencies that don't adapt?
They become invisible. Not immediately, but inevitably. The client finds inspiration elsewhere, books elsewhere, and the agency becomes irrelevant.