Non-traditional tourism brands are seeking new customers through this sector.

In 2024, there were nearly 1.4 billion international tourist arrivals worldwide, according to data from UN Tourism, which also estimates growth between 3 and 5% for this year, which is why many companies outside this sector have begun to carry out customer acquisition initiatives through the travel industry .

"It's a very resilient product in terms of experience; even when the economy is in decline, we can see that travel remains a major consumer habit . So, non-travel brands can take advantage of the opportunity to offer these two elements to their customer base," Emilie Dumont, CEO of Digitrips, said on Wednesday.

Dumont participated in Palma, Mallorca, Spain, in the roundtable "How non-travel brands are entering travel ," held within the framework of the ConX 2025 tourism forum , where he commented that the motivation of these corporations is both strategic and financial.

In a subsequent interview with EFE , the expert added that this situation could create many opportunities for companies specializing in tourism, as those outside the industry will need experience to retain their customer base in this field.

For this reason, Ada Xu, Director of International Affairs at FLIGGY, the Alibaba Group 's travel innovation platform, explained that the group has created a service offering based on a market study of its customer base.

"We know what Chinese travelers use or need when they're traveling," he added, adding that this immersion gives them "brand strength," as they leverage the data and suggestions they receive from different economic sectors to grow their business and broaden their consumer base.

In this way, the Alibaba Group also sees opportunities to work with various European cities to collaborate on tourism promotion aimed at destinations committed to sustainability.

Following this debate, as part of the ConX 2025 program, an event organized by Travelgate , Skift EMEA's general manager, Kate Irwin, interviewed HBX Group's director of Strategy and Transformation, Javier Cabrerizo.

In this conversation, Cabrerizo emphasized that the key to the development of tourism companies is having sufficient flexibility to address new traveler profiles and society's demands.

The Spanish executive recalled "the old days" when strategic plans looked five or ten years ahead, but today, the priority is to be "practical" and look for three-year plans in order to "be very flexible along the way" and be able to respond to market opportunities "in these uncertain times."