ITE2025, Asia’s leading international travel fair, returned for its 39th ITE Leisure and 20th ITE MICE edition at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) from June 12–15, 2025, affirming its status as a cornerstone for both B2B and B2C travel engagement. Endorsed as a MEGA EVENT by the Hong Kong Government, this year’s edition demonstrated a strategic leap forward, integrating industry recovery with forward-facing growth driven by Gen Z travel behaviors, family vacation trends, and an outbound travel boom from Hong Kong.
A Record-Breaking Showcase of Global Exhibitors and Visitors
ITE2025 attracted 502 exhibitors from 64 countries and regions, with approximately 88% from overseas, confirming the event’s strong international magnetism. Particularly notable was the diversity of exhibitors, with one-third originating from outside Asia, drawing attention from a more globally engaged professional and public audience. Trade visitor numbers reached 7,626, a year-on-year increase of 8.6%, with 53.2% of trade attendees coming from outside Hong Kong, signaling the fair’s regained regional and international momentum.
Public attendance surged to 70,212, an 11.4% increase over the previous year. These public visitors were far from passive foot traffic—ITE’s proprietary survey indicates that nearly 60% were aged 40 or above, and the vast majority are frequent travelers with purchasing intent, often making on-the-spot travel bookings via mobile payment platforms.
Gen Z and Family Travel Take Center Stage
ITE2025 was not merely about volume, but demographic evolution. For the first time, the fair visibly spotlighted Gen Z and young parents, launching tailored content and activities to re-engage segments whose travel habits were severely disrupted during the pandemic.
Key attractions included:
- Kids’ Cosplay Catwalk, drawing hundreds of online votes weeks before the fair, creating buzz among young families.
- Travel Mart, an innovative platform designed to showcase travel products born from personal experiences, resonating with a younger, inspiration-driven audience.
These efforts successfully shifted the age profile of attendees, driving renewed participation from under-40 travelers who had largely paused travel in recent years.
Strategic B2B Development: Matching Buyers and Sellers Without Barriers
In the post-pandemic context, ITE2025 strategically evolved its B2B model, blending free-flow networking with structured activities such as Business Matching (BM), which facilitated targeted and efficient dialogues between 35 buyers and 33 sellers. Unlike traditional hosted programs, this year’s approach subsidized, but did not obligate buyers, creating an environment of mutual intent rather than passive attendance.
ITE2025 also elevated trade discourse through:
- New/Niche Destination seminars, with AI-powered simultaneous interpretation between Chinese and English for better accessibility to Guangdong-based delegates.
- Sustainability forums, KOL Networking sessions, and KOL Grand Tours, promoting immersive engagement among influencers and national tourism organizations (NTOs).
These integrated services—offered at no extra charge to exhibitors—highlighted ITE’s value-driven platform that fosters lasting business connections while being operationally lean and exhibitor-friendly.
Public Day Programming: Engaging and Selling to Premium FIT Travelers
ITE Hong Kong has long cultivated a sophisticated public visitor base, and 2025 was no exception. Over 100 public seminars were conducted across the two open days, attended by 9,224 visitors, with the most popular talk drawing over 400 attendees—a mix of seated and standing audiences. Notably, 49 KOLs and bloggers presented across both trade and public programs, offering real-world insights and highly relatable travel experiences.
Public day initiatives extended beyond passive seminars to include:
- Exhibitor-run booths with interactive experiences like workshops, mascot performances, photo booths, and travel games.
- Onsite digital booking facilitation, allowing visitors to use smartphones for immediate holiday purchases, enhancing the event’s transactional dimension.
ITE2025’s visitor profile remains high-quality: educated, tech-savvy, and willing to spend. Nearly 54% took 3 or more outbound trips from January to June, with a further 42.4% planning the same volume for July to December, underscoring that the event attracts actionable travel consumers.
KOL Integration as Industry Infrastructure
One of ITE2025’s most notable differentiators was its systematic incorporation of travel influencers into the core programming. Beyond seminar participation, KOL Grand Tours led influencers through tailored visits to exhibitors’ pavilions, while KOL Networking events connected them directly with regional and global tourism boards.
These structured interactions expanded influencers’ understanding of exhibitor offerings and enabled deeper content creation that resonated with their audiences. As social credibility increasingly rivals traditional media, ITE’s proactive strategy to embed influencers into the travel fair’s fabric signals a future-forward approach.
Media and International Promotion Drive Pre-Event Buzz
ITE2025 also benefited from targeted media outreach, with the organizer TKS Exhibition Services Ltd. issuing an international press release via a global news agency under the headline “A Great Sourcing Platform for Asian Travel Trade“. Within a month, the release was picked up by 475 media outlets and amassed over 369,000 views.
Two high-profile media events—a Pre-Show Press Conference and Media Onsite Preview—garnered solid attendance from TV broadcasters, print journalists, online platforms, and trade journals, helping to create significant local and regional buzz.
Strong Institutional Support and Cross-Border Participation
ITE2025 once again enjoyed official endorsement and institutional backing, enhancing its credibility and cross-sectoral impact. Key supporters included:
- Ministry of Culture & Tourism, P.R. China
- Hong Kong Tourism Board
- Macao Government Tourism Office
- Travel Industry Council of Hong Kong
In addition, delegations from Greater Bay Area (GBA) cities in Guangdong—representing both individual agents and travel associations—participated heavily, evidencing deeper cross-border trade integration.
Hong Kong’s Outbound Travel Market Exceeds Pre-Pandemic Levels
Perhaps the most game-changing trend for exhibitors and buyers alike is the full recovery of Hong Kong’s outbound travel sector. In 2024, Hongkongers made over 100 million outbound departures, exceeding pre-pandemic (2019) totals. More tellingly, recovery by travel spending hit 84%, significantly outperforming the 77% rebound in departures—underscoring a return of high-value, experience-seeking travelers.
This positions Hong Kong, once again, among Asia’s top three or four outbound source markets by expenditure, making ITE an even more lucrative hub for international tourism boards and destination marketers.
Looking Ahead: ITE2026 Builds on Momentum
Next year’s edition, ITE2026, will be held from June 11 to 14, 2026, at HKCEC’s Halls 1A–1E, maintaining the established format of two trade days and two public days. As this year’s event showcased, ITE is far more than a travel fair—it is an ecosystem for sourcing, engagement, and conversion at the nexus of global tourism, digital storytelling, and regional economic recovery.
From content innovation and B2B matchmaking to social media integration and frictionless mobile booking, ITE2025 has redefined what a travel exhibition can achieve in a world where inspiration, transaction, and connection now coexist in real time.
