AURA lights up Florence. There are places that you don’t just visit. You walk through them, listen to them, and remember them.
Florence belongs to this rare category of cities capable of transforming every step into a discovery and every detail into a memory. It is here, amid art, fashion, craftsmanship, hospitality, and beauty, that from October 27–29, 2026, AURA – The Luxury Travel Event will come to life—the new international event organized by Italian Exhibition Group and dedicated to high-end tourism.
An event born at a time when the very concept of luxury is undergoing a transformation. The elegance of a suite, the perfection of service, and the exclusivity of a location are no longer enough. The contemporary traveler seeks something deeper: they wish to access what normally remains invisible, to live once-in-a-lifetime experiences, and to connect with places, people, stories, and moments capable of leaving a lasting impression.
The new luxury is a museum open after hours. It is a dinner designed as a personal narrative. It is an encounter with an artist, an artisan, or a maison that preserves knowledge passed down through the ages. It is the chance to feel like a part of a place, not merely a guest.
Essentially, it is EMOTION.
Within this new geography of desire, AURA takes shape—conceived as an international platform bringing together the finest of Italy’s offerings and the professionals who craft bespoke trips for high-spending clients: luxury travel advisors, ultra-luxury travel designers, specialized operators, and buyers selected from major international markets.
For three days, at the Fortezza da Basso, Florence will become a crossroads of relationships, visions, and opportunities. Five-star hotels, historic residences, resorts, villas, castles, high-end incoming tour operators, and service providers in the hospitality and transportation sectors will engage with buyers from North America, South America, Asia, Europe, and the United Kingdom.
But AURA won’t just be a B2B event. It will also serve as a unique vantage point for exploring the new language of luxury travel—a place to understand how high-end travel is increasingly becoming a cultural, emotional, and identity-defining experience.
The program includes over ten hours of B2B workshops, networking opportunities, talks on industry trends, and chances to explore the local area. These experiences are woven into the project as a living narrative of the new Italian luxury: visits to Palazzo Pucci, the Ferragamo Museum, and the Gucci Museum; tours and workshops with brands such as My Mancini, Stefano Bemer, Il Bisonte, and La Ménagère; as well as a workshop dedicated to upcycling and textile regeneration.
From bespoke shoemaking to artisanal leather goods, from the history of Florentine fashion houses to the culture of hospitality, AURA portrays an Italy that does not merely showcase its beauty but transforms it into an experience. An Italy shaped by craftsmanship, memory, care, talent, and vision.
It is here that Brand Italia demonstrates its strength. In a complex international landscape, the luxury segment shows surprising resilience. According to TTG Monitor, 46% of high-end travelers plan to stick to the same budget for their upcoming vacations as last year, while 30% expect to increase their spending. This figure reflects not only the market’s solidity but also the growing desire for authentic, personal, and emotionally rich experiences.
As Gloria Armiri, Group Exhibition Manager of the Tourism & Hospitality Division at Italian Exhibition Group, observes, luxury is now a key driver of Italy’s growth. High-spending tourists choose our country not only for the quality of its services, but for its ability to offer authentic sensations, exclusive experiences, and deep connections with the local area. For 72% of respondents, luxury no longer equates to ostentation, but rather to what is personal, rare, and emotionally meaningful.
And this is perhaps the most intriguing direction of contemporary travel: no longer accumulating places, but cherishing experiences. No longer seeking only destinations, but stories to live. No longer owning luxury, but inhabiting it for a moment.
AURA stems from Italian Exhibition Group’s experience in tourism and the evolution of the Luxury Event by TTG format, which in its latest edition brought together over 1,600 business meetings among international operators. Today, that journey takes another step forward, giving rise to an event entirely dedicated to the luxury segment, designed to offer the Italian industry an international, specialized tool built around the quality of relationships.
The choice of Florence is, in this sense, entirely natural. Few cities in the world can so vividly illustrate the shift from luxury as a status symbol to luxury as an experience. Here, art meets fashion, craftsmanship dialogues with hospitality, and memory becomes the future.
AURA – The Luxury Travel Event was created with the support and collaboration of the Region of Tuscany, Toscana Promozione Turistica, the Destination Florence Foundation, and Firenze Fiera. This new international event brings Florence to life and looks toward the future of high-end tourism, drawing on what makes Italy unique: its ability to transform beauty, culture, and savoir-faire into emotion.
