Ultra-Luxury Tourism Sells Out in Seconds at Malta Summit
At a World Travel & Tourism Council summit in Malta, trips.com's chief executive revealed that a $200,000 round-the-world travel package sold out in just 17 seconds.
Newsnibs Staff
- 2026-10-11
- Updated 2:55 PM UTC
(Malta)
A $200,000-per-person round-the-world travel package sold out in 17 seconds, Jane Sun, chief executive of the Chinese travel company trips.com, told a World Travel & Tourism Council summit in Malta on Sunday. The sellout blew past the company's six-month sales target for the package, Sun said. trips.com, which reports €8.5 billion in revenue, also sells space travel packages priced above €700,000.
More than 200 global leaders attended the summit, including former Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and former Spanish Prime Minister José María Aznar. The gathering's theme, "purpose travel," tied tourism planning to marquee events such as the World Cup and the Formula 1 Grand Prix.
Gloria Fluxá, representing the Spanish hotel chain Iberostar, described sustainability measures the company has taken, including changing more than 2,000 water sources across its properties. She said Iberostar operates what she called the world's first hotel powered by a green hydrogen battery, in Mallorca.
Neal Jones, president of Marriott for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, spoke about crisis planning. Jones took up the role on March 1, the same day the "Ormuz crisis" began, and said the timing reinforced the need to prepare for disruptions in advance. He cited Marriott's more than 10,000 properties across 150 countries.
Gloria Guevara, chief executive of the WTTC, said airlines using artificial intelligence to optimize menus have cut food waste by 40%. Guevara said she does not expect AI to replace jobs in the service sector.
Apostolos Tzitzikostas, the European Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism, proposed building a central data center for the tourism industry to support decision-making.
Photo by Mohamed Masaau on Unsplash
