The fourth edition of Luxury Bloc, the luxury travel trade show for Central and Eastern Europe, took place from September 4 to 7 in the brand new Andaz Prague .

Luxury Bloc
September 4-7, 2023
Tel.: +420 602 948 656
Web: luxurybloc.com

Top travel advisors in the region met with global brands at Luxury Bloc. © Luxury Bloc

Huge potential

The annual GDP growth in the EU is 4 %, while the entire CEE region (Central and Eastern Europe) has an impressive 5.4 %. Moreover, this market is an epicenter of the startup scene, leading the Unicorn stock market trend. Accordingly, there are also more and more Ultra High New Worth Individuals to be found here, which further increases the potential of this market. Compared to North America, Western Europe and the Middle East, the growth of financial assets in the CEE region will outpace other markets by 2026.

One&Only was just one of many major players at Luxury Bloc. Pictured: One&Only Reethi Rah, Maldives © One&Only

A bright future

Luxury Bloc founder Gabriela Markova was particularly excited about the many new projects on display this year - current travel trends are moving away from luxury beach vacations to adventure travel and experimental experiences. "We are thrilled to be the first to introduce the most anticipated hotel openings, Raffles the OWO, Peninsula London, Waldorf Astoria Platte Island Seychelles and BIJAL resort to the CEE travel market, here at Luxury Bloc this year. We will be kicking off new era of ocean travel with Explora Journeys and its new boat EXPLORA, which is the blueprint of exquisite design, architecture, and environmental technologies. And bring new destination specialist from Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Cuba, Mongolia and Uzbekistan to the region; all of them being destinations that are slowly starting to get fashionable," said the dedicated industry expert at this year's show.

The charismatic founder of the luxury fair, Gabriela Markova (left), is excited about many new attractions this year that will enrich the growing CEE market. © Luxury Bloc

Renowned partners

Numerous elite travel consultants attended the show, including representatives from Latvia, Lithuania, Estonia, Poland, Czechia, Slovakia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia, Serbia and Croatia. Also present were ultra-luxury resorts, destination management companies, private islands, well-known cruise lines, and prominent brands such as Cheval Blanc, Peninsula, Raffles, One&Only, Waldorf Astoria, and Mandarin Oriental.

This year, several new hotels debuted in the CEE region, such as The Peninsula London. © The Peninsula Hotels.

Read more about the market potential of the CEE region here.