For many, he is the king of luxury tourism. For others it is a friendly good-natured, slightly down and overweight, which often use mustaches - possibly because he was born in Mexico City, where he lived his first 11 years of life. Matthew Upchurch accept any label. It is many years ago, the CEO of Virtuoso, the largest network of companies linked to the highest level of travel across the planet. The number of first-rate hotels, cruises, travel agencies and consultants, airlines and other suppliers of affiliated industry to Virtuoso is instantly changeable.
To give you a quick idea, however, is enough to mention that the last meeting of the network took place in August in Las Vegas, attended by 4,872 professionals from 90 countries, 539 different events, 451,645 meetings only four minutes each - more would remove the event - a total of 1479.360 minutes spent, equivalent to two years and eight months.
The group's revenue projection is higher than the US $ 15.5 billion in 2015 and is the golden portion of a sector - tourism - which moves close to $ 1.8 trillion a year. It is the service industry the fastest growing and is already among the top five in the world. In other words, your vacation, your business trips or family are not mere fun. The world needs them.
Upchurch, who has four children and now lives in Fort Worth and Seattle, alternately, is a kind of industry genius. Already belongs to several halls of fame - typically American groups that only accept the best of the best and is a beloved manager in his demanding market. Love, of course, traveling and is one of the few people on the planet already has reserved seat in the first tours to space, not foreseen yet. "I want to go to space to see the world from another perspective. Each time this happens, it changes the whole life, "philosophizes with the unshakable conviction that this occurred with himself and with the smartest people you know.
The luxury tourism business has been changing slowly and sustainably in recent years. According to Matthew, it was worth before the opulence, today nothing is more important than the quality of experience, always with personalized services. And the thing goes further: "Each of us is a different persona depending on the type of trip you're doing. An executive has different interests when traveling to work or traveling with family. Eventually, there is a third persona in the same traveler: one who, on individual days or as much adventure and adrenaline if it can in the evening, relax in a good restaurant and dine in gourmet restaurants with quality wine. "
An event of Belmond Hotel Copacabana Palace in Rio de Janeiro, was awarded at the meeting of Las Vegas, as the vast experience of the year. This is the Exploration Program to Corcovado, an experiment with script, guides and different times, of course, it offers a unique view of the Serra da Carioca.
The celebrated Cup, incidentally, is one of the few Virtuoso hotels in Brazil (they are only 11). Moreover, Brazil does not even appear in the list of the most popular destinations on the planet, in disreputable safely, his insignificant job international promotion and the many fees it charges - mainly of reciprocity, amounting to huge markets like the US and Canada, for example.
On the other hand, the economic turmoil has not affected the interest of the world by Brazilian travelers. "You have a large population, with many millionaires, and they travel a lot," says Upchurch. "In addition, the whole world knows that Brazilians are among tourists who spend more when traveling, either sleeping, eating or - especially - shopping.
On international tourism, the CEO of Virtuoso explains "than ever before in history" (not plagiarism Lula) there were so many different people traveling together. In the past, they circulated worldwide only the oldest - has no need to work - and the very wealthy. "Today, our hotels receive people of all ages, all professions and all interests. This is why strengthening the need of so-called tailor-made trips. - Travel hand-stitched by the best tourism tailors "In practice, the average age of a luxury traveler is 56 and using Virtuoso companies often make trips 1,750,000 each year. The most coveted destination is still Europe, and Asia is the fastest growing.
The preferred time of year for travelers is golden autumn. According to Virtuoso of all, the world is ready to fly, about 37 million millionaires around the globe. As a counselor heard much by industry magazines and major American TV interviewers, Matthew Upchurch admits that now his priority is to bring changes to the US market. "We have lost market share in recent years because we are not offering different experiences. We continue practicing opulence tourism is declining. "
On a daily basis, the luxury tourism king travels a lot with family (only two of the four children and his wife, because older living in Paris and Ireland). "I want them to be citizens of the world," he smiles. Plays polo and, against all evidence, it is also yoga and meditation adept. Only then, perhaps, get organized, successfully, one dimension of the event last - which is expected to grow next year. With two main words in mind: "True personalization". That's what the world wants.
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