Unique Contributions

Fostering inclusive travel experiences

• RELX • Season 2 • Episode 6

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In this episode, YS Chi speaks with Simon Mayle, event director of the International Luxury Travel Market events in the Americas and PROUD Experiences. Born in a family of pioneer travel experts, Simon dedicated his professional life to creating better travel experiences for the discerning LGBTQ+ and luxury travel communities.

Through his personal and professional stories, we hear about the latest travel trends and why we have a yearning for travel. Simon tells us about his work to support inclusion and diversity in the travel market and shares his insights on inclusive experiences that speak to every segment of society regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, etc – elements that are sometimes still missing in travel experiences.

As an ambassador of the LGBTQ+ community, Simon reminds us that although a third of centennials identify as LGBTQ+, acceptance levels are still too low in some popular tourist destinations. He calls for governments to place more importance on the travel industry and the 160m people it employs worldwide.

This podcast is brought to you by RELX.

YS Chi:

The Unique Contributions podcast is brought to you by RELX. Find out more about us by visiting RELX.com.

Simon Mayle:

Our role is not just event organisers, but we're relationship brokers. We're putting the right people together in the most efficient manner to do business in a really pleasurable and easy way.

YS Chi:

Hello, and welcome to Unique Contributions a RELX podcast where we bring you closer to some of the most interesting people from around our business. I'm YS Chi and I'll be exploring with my guests some of the biggest issues that matter to society, how they're making a difference and what brought them to where they are today. My guest today is Simon Mayle who works in Reed Exhibitions as the events director of the International Luxury Tourism Market for Latin America, and PROUD Experiences. Like the majority of people I've met working in Reed Exhibitions, Simon is deeply passionate about what he does. But as you all know, the face to face events industry has been deeply impacted by Coronavirus. One year into the Covid-19 pandemic, I'll be asking Simon how he thinks the industry will recover and rebuild better. How is he planning for the future and how the events he runs will be serving the needs of society. Since Simon is the driving force behind PROUD experiences, how will he be serving the needs of LGBTQ+ community? Simon, it's great to have you with us today. Thank you for joining the podcast.

Simon Mayle:

Thank you for inviting me. It's an honour.

YS Chi:

You're currently based in So Paulo, how have things been for you there over the last few months?

Simon Mayle:

I think like everyone else it's been a roller coaster. There's definitely been highs and lows. I particularly feel quite lucky personally. There's been no incidences of Covid in my family. I've not suffered mentally like many people have. The company's been incredibly supportive. I don't have children that I need to educate at home. So I feel luckier than most, but it's definitely been a roller coaster. I think the biggest frustration is not being able to put on live events, something that we live and breathe for at Reed Exhibitions. So that's been the biggest challenge.

YS Chi:

Right. I think you will soon start exhibitions in Brazil as well, as we have seen elsewhere around the world. I hope that you are so excited that these are going to be smash hits.

Simon Mayle:

Absolutely. I think much like travel, for events there's huge pent up demand. People are desperate to get back to business, they're desperate to see and reconnect with their business colleagues from all over the world. We have already seen events such as in Florida last week in Miami Beach with our jewelry show, which was a great success. So hopefully soon in Brazil too.

YS Chi:

Yeah, so let's hear a little bit more about how you in International Luxury Travel Market or ILTM coped during the pandemic last year. During the first series of this podcast, our guest Lance Fensterman who is president of ReedPop at Reed Exhibitions, told us about the very unique challenge and the opportunity online events had to differentiate themselves at the onset of the pandemic. Now that we're a few months later, and as vaccines have begun to roll out around the world, I would like to hear your views on this as well. Historically, if I may add, we've seen societies bounce back strongly after recessions. So what was the transition from in-person to virtual like for you and your team? Especially in the International Luxury Travel Market, where face to face contact is often such a huge, important feature?

Simon Mayle:

Yes, you're absolutely right. The travel industry is really based all around human connection. One of the benefits that ILTM has is that when it was launched some 20 years ago in 2001, it was a really unique kind of event. In that it's 100% invitation only and it's a 100% pre scheduled appointment event. In that case, what we do essentially is we invite the world's best destinations, the world's best hotels, to all come together in Cannes in the South of France with a global event. We invite the world's best luxury travel agents representing high net worth individuals from all over the world. It's one-to-one models. We have exactly the same number of travel agents that we do have hoteliers and destinations, and they all choose who they want to meet. We have a very clever system that matches those pre requests. Essentially pre-scheduled 50,000, appointments, 15 minutes long over about three days. So the reason I mentioned that, is that we have been doing virtual matching of appointments for many years. What we've always believed is that our role is not just event organisers, but we're relationship brokers. We're putting the right people together in the most efficient manner, to do business in a really pleasurable and easy way. So that's our raise on that. So with this in mind, the transition to virtual event was relatively easy. We did have our ILTM global event in November and December last year. We went around the world, we started in Asia, and then we moved through to Europe and then we moved on to the Americas finally. It was a huge success and we had a really high level of engagement. But there's no doubt it goes without saying that people are really craving to get back to the physical events. They really look at our events as the barometer of the industry.

YS Chi:

How difficult was it, that they are having these virtual meetings pre arranged, but they don't know what the product is going to look like and when?

Simon Mayle:

That's a great point. Historically, the conversation would revolve much more around tailoring the travel experience to that specific client's needs. Today, I think the industry like many other industries has become much more empathetic. It's about understanding the personal situation of the supplier and the agent, the buyer essentially. So I think it was an update on what the clients are saying, what is the level of confidence of the clients? Because I think this is something that we've learned through Covid. Is that everyone's level of comfort is very different and it's about respecting people's level of comfort. Certainly when it comes to traveling, and when it comes to events too.

YS Chi:

Yeah, I think it's a very good point about such individuality in terms of readiness.

Simon Mayle:

Exactly.

YS Chi:

And I hope that because ILTM is very high end and customised, that you will be able to get huge ROI from these engagements.

Simon Mayle:

Definitely. We really see that and I think what's interesting, what's fascinating about the luxury travel industry. Of course, there's been assumptions over the year that it might be an extravagant industry. But actually, what we see is that the luxury travel industry really drives the travel industry as a whole. The spend, the spread of wealth is much bigger than the mass market travel industry. In terms of reaching the community, in terms of discerning travelers really wanting to go to far flung destinations that are not part of a mass or over tourism movement. They want to really ensure that they go under the skin of any destination, get to know it, and really make sure that their money is going beyond the hotel.

YS Chi:

So, before we dive much more deeply into your work, let's talk about your personal story a little bit. I understand you've nearly always worked in the travel or events industry. One could even say that you were born into it. Is that right?

Simon Mayle:

Absolutely. Well, both of my parents actually met working in a travel agency in the 1970s in the northwest of England. Just this weekend, I was looking back at the family album and it was quite a glamorous affair. They seemed to be forever in black tie events. So yes, I was very much born into it. I vividly remember when I was growing up Saturdays of the weekends, I would be in the back office of the travel agency that my father ran and sticking stickers on travel brochures, and so forth. So very much born into the travel industry. I was very fortunate that my godmother who I'm very close to, she was really a pioneer in terms of the luxury traveling industry in the UK. She was founder of a company called Elegant Resorts, which was really one of the first companies to specialise in luxury travel trips launching in the 80s in the UK. My cousin too was also a travel agent responsible for a big retail travel agency across the northwest of England as well. Then I fell into exhibitions and my path in exhibitions really started to move closer and closer to the travel industry. Until one day, I vividly remember getting a call from a recruitment agent asking me whether I would be, whether I was interested or looking for another job at the time. I said no, and he said, what if it's your dream job? I said to him, please, what's my dream job? He said, International Luxury Travel Market. I said, yep, that's it. That was 11 years.

YS Chi:

Wow. So this dream job personally, what makes it so unique? I mean, you worked in other industries, right?

Simon Mayle:

Yeah, absolutely. I did. I started my career working on the UK biggest consumer exhibition, which is also the oldest, the Ideal Home Show had 100 years at the time. Then I moved onto my job before ILTM, it was a very interesting job. It was within the maritime and shipping industry within the Middle East. It kind of almost had two personalities to the role. So half of the role was working in the cruise travel industry, taking cruise itinerary panels around the Middle East to Bahrain, Oman, Abu Dhabi, to see the destination. Then the other half was working with oil and gas shipping across the Middle East. So going to Dammam and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia to deal with oil and gas shipping events. So it was fascinating. But what I really learned from that role, in that position, was the power and the importance of face to face and personal relations and building human connections. Certainly at the time, it was impossible to do business over email, or even phone without being in the same room. So that was something really that I learned. I guess the reason I love what we do. I love events because it is all about people, much like the travel industry. The travel industry and events really kind of blend beautifully. You get to meet the melee of fascinating people of different cultures. One of my favorite parts about the job is understanding how different nations and different cultures like to travel, because it is very different.

YS Chi:

Are the destinations also changing currently around the world, as to what is considered a luxury destination?

Simon Mayle:

Absolutely. There is one famous hotelier called Adrian Zecha, who was behind many of the wonderful brands like Regent in the Far East, but went on to launch famously the Aman brand. He always said where the backpackers go first, the luxury travelers go next. It's really that sense of exploration. The sense of getting off the beaten track, that I love the idea of where luxury travelers or discerning travelers like to go. Today more than ever, and really the trend was already happening, but I think Covid will certainly accelerate it. There was a desire and a need for nature. People were looking for wide open spaces. They were looking and reconnect with nature, to get away from it all. The fast paced digitization of the world that we're living in today and some of the polarization in terms of politics. We're really driving people to look for places where they where they could go to literally just shut off, and do what is sometimes called slow travel as well.

YS Chi:

Yeah, slow travel seems to be the word that a lot of people are using these days.

Simon Mayle:

Absolutely.

YS Chi:

I don't know how much you know about my background, but travel has been the majority of my life. For work mostly, but it has. I wonder how you can perhaps tell us how work and pleasure travel are mixing, or not mixing as a trend?

Simon Mayle:

No, they definitely have been mixing. They've been been mixing for years and I think people...I think we'll see that much more than ever post Covid. I think people can no longer justify a 48 hour trip to New York. Many people want to extend. They can work remotely, they will be working and everyone will be working much more flexibly. So we'll expect to see that more going forward. People extending trips, taking the family with them, and really making the most of destinations that they're going to. I guess to a certain extent, making up for lost time. The past year where we've all been starved, deprived of what is many, many, many people's favorite pastime. Certainly we expect travel in terms of disposable income to be the spend that bounces back faster than any other sector.

YS Chi:

I seem to remember reading somewhere recently, in the last week, an article that said a survey showed that the number one thing they wanted to do after they are allowed to move around more freely is to reunite with their family, and then closely followed by travel.

Simon Mayle:

Many people will do both at the same time. I was actually quite fortunate to be able to go back to the UK in August of 2020.

YS Chi:

Those were a few good months in the UK.

Simon Mayle:

Exactly, I was very lucky. I had a huge milestone birthday and a big family trip. So I was taking all of my family to the Isle of Skye in Scotland. So very on trend, big family trip, wild open spacees etc. And it was really wonderful to be able to, after such a testing time, to be able to spend the time with my sisters, my father. To be able to get away and just have that quality time with them. Now we're back in a situation where it's very difficult for me to leave Brazil to go back to the UK. I'm living off those moments right now.

YS Chi:

So as the events director for the LTM, what are some of the key things that your team is really focused on doing to get out of this properly, and truly, I would call it catapult to a new level?

Simon Mayle:

So I think 2020 was very much about crisis management. We were postponing and rescheduling shows. We were still going through the process last year, where many of our clients really wanted our shows to go ahead. We were having to take the decisions at the right times. This year, I love the fact that the company has started with a plan A, a plan B and a plan C, which is fantastic. So we are embracing hybrid events. We are planning to have physical events and virtual events throughout the year. We really see that one complements the other. In the situations where we are unable to run the physical event, that we can pivot 100% to the virtual event very quickly. That's the response that we're seeing from clients. Clients are definitely saying to us, we want to be there physically, and we will be there physically if we are physically allowed to be there. If not, we'll be there virtually.

YS Chi:

Right, so my last question on this area. To young people coming up, so Simon 15-20 years ago. What advice would you give these young people as skill sets that they absolutely must have or maybe attitude they must have, either way?

Simon Mayle:

For me it's just about understanding people. Take the time to listen, be passionate about people, be passionate about what you do. Events as I say, like travel or hospitality...my boss likes to say sometimes it's not brain surgery. It is really just about being empathetic, understanding the differences. One of the things that we love to talk about with PROUD Experiences, is treat everyone differently. Don't treat everyone the same. It's about understanding differences. That's what I would focus on. Do whatever you do, aim to do a job that you love, aim to do something that you're passionate about. You will see in the travel industry that the use of the hashtag, I love my job, generally goes along with everyone and you rarely see anyone leaving the travel industry and let alone the events travel industry.

YS Chi:

Now, Simon, the other half of your professional identity is of course, the events director of PROUD Experiences, which represents a very different challenge I suppose. A space for brands, designers, leaders and individuals that come together and embrace LGBTQ community. What can you tell us about the creation of the event back in 2018? And what does pride mean to you personally?

Simon Mayle:

I'm very proud of the company because Reed Exhibitions runs a program called the Event Leadership Development program, which really takes leaders of the future, young people within the business and puts them through a great program to develop them as future leaders of the business. At the end of that program, each of the groups teams within the program presents an idea for a launch show, and PROUD experiences was presented as an idea as a launch show. The board at Reed Exhibitions in the UK shows PROUD experiences as one of the ideas that were pitched. They basically said, let's go for it, let's invest it. We really see a great event here that will deliver great value to the travel industry. In this case, it really is about hotels and destinations, understanding the nuances in the LGBTQ travel industry and the importance in, as I said earlier about treating everyone differently. So for me personally, I guess, it had never occurred to me just how much Reed Exhibitions and RELX embraces diversity until PROUD experiences came about. I started to see very senior level support for the event and I remember Kumsal who was the president of Reed Exhibitions Europe at the time before she moved on to join Elsevier, sending a beautiful note about the event and the level of emotional engagement. I think what we see with PROUD experiences, is that it is about diversity as a whole. Whilst we talk about specifically the LGBTQ traveler, it really is about diversity. To me it means a lot, as a gay man, when I first started my career I perhaps wasn't as open as I am now. And to really be in a senior position in the events and the travel industry, of young LGBTQ people looking up to me as a visible person in the business gives me a lot of pride, personal pride.

YS Chi:

Now all this is possible also because economically, the so called 'pink economy' is huge isn't it?

Simon Mayle:

There is a fascinating statistic which is my mantra with regards to PROUD experiences, that 8% of Baby Boomers identify as LGBTQ. Whereas 31% of Centennials, that's born from 1997 onwards, identify as LGBTQ. So that's almost 1/3 of everyone's future business. If you're not talking their language, then you're going to be missing a potential third of your clientele. And what's swaying this in a big way is the Q, which is queer or questioning, the bases don't put me in a box I'm not entirely sure what I am. But the way I like to consume is much more in line with the LGBT than it is with the heteronormative comparative. When it comes to travel, the spend of the LGBTQ traveler is much higher on average. It is 33% higher than the heteronormative comparative, they travel three to four times a year and the market is also very influential. The LGBTQ market tends to have a big social network and share all their travel experiences. There's an enormous ally market that goes along with the LGBTQ traveler. Now, it's not always easy for LGBTQ travelers, especially when you get into the question of trends, for example. So the fascinating discussions that happen around PROUD experiences, and for great business reasons, as well as for great social reasons.

YS Chi:

So this LGBTQ community for travel is kind of merging into a critical mass and you seem to be doing a great job with your team on this show. But at some point in time as it matures, it then becomes the reverse, specializing within that community. When do you think that point will arrive where you will have to start to kind of steer this market to many different strands, but nevertheless consistent theme of LGBT or even more as you said, consistent theme around diversity?

Simon Mayle:

You're absolutely right and I guess, when I was talking to some people in 2018 2019, I think people, a lot of people were the opinion that ship had sailed. The LGBTQ travelers were treated equally as everyone else. But the reality is that when we've got into bigger questions of diversity, whether it be the George Floyd, which was really a worldwide awakening in terms of diversity, there's still a long way to go. There was a very interesting statistic that came out with a lot of the reversal of the LGBTQ legislation in the US. That was showing that from 2002 to 2019, acceptance of homosexuality in the US had gone to 50%, to just over 70%. That's nearly a third of people who are still not accepting of LGBTQ people. Similarly in the UK, it had gone to 80%. Whereas in South Korea, it's still below 50%. In Kenya, it's still below 20%. These are all destinations that LGBTQ travelers are traveling to. There is still a very long way to go within that. When you talk about the experience of a LGBTQ traveler, or anyone within a diversity spectrum going to a hotel, and particularly at a higher level, if you're paying $500, a $1,000 a night. You go to that hotel and the slippers are made for a heterosexual couple.

YS Chi:

Yes, one larger size than the other, right?

Simon Mayle:

Exactly, exactly. I never forget, I traveled with my partner to a hotel here in Brazil and it was at Iguaz Falls. We arrived at the hotel, we ran into the room, dropped the bags. Noticed there was a 38 and a 42 flip flop by the side of the bed, ran out to the falls at sunset, took a quick picture and we're back in the room 10 minutes later. When we arrived in the room they had changed the flip flops to two 42's, two sized 42's.

YS Chi:

Wow.

Simon Mayle:

We were blown away. I think even the hotel themselves, the brand who actually has an LGBTQ advisory board said, the bar is set so low sometimes that when hotels do get it right, the experiences is so much better and we're blown away.

YS Chi:

I think it's going to be very exciting to see how the industry adapts to these perception and acceptance changes in diversity. That's in every category you just said, not just the orientation, but in all facets. We have so far to go still. Looking forward, what are a few things that you would like to personally see change within this market that you're a part of? I mean, you've been in it long enough to have been able to formulate, and to see some progress, but there must be so much more than your ambition imagines?

Simon Mayle:

Absolutely. I think there's a few things really front of mind for me right now. One of the things that I'm very proud to be part of is an NGO called Equator, EQTR, which is about lifting BIPOC people within the travel industry. It's a mentorship program that started in the US and was really born out of the George Floyd situation. Where we see that ironically, the number of white people in top management positions within the travel industry or hotel industry, is actually rising and not dropping. So if you look at the number of black people in hospitality, they represent some nearly 19% of hospitality workers but only 1.5% of executives within the industry. We really need to support the growth of black and indigenous and people of colour across the travel industry. That's something I'm really passionate about right now. I see my position as an LGBTQ person, that really is an ally of the BIPOC people within the travel industry. I also, as somebody who has been led by inspirational women, Allison, Anna who was a recent interviewee and Kumsal, as well as my godmother who's been the biggest inspiration in my life. I get frustrated by the lack of women in senior positions and particularly when you look at governmental position with regards to travel and tourism. ILTM did a massive piece of research with Barton Wealth about the importance of the travel industry, and really found that the travel industry is worth $2.05 trillion. If it was a country it would be one of the top 10 countries in the world. As an ecosystem that employs 160 million plus people, just a comparative the automobile, automotive industry employs 5.9 million people. So 160 million people plus, and 90% of those are small businesses, small and micro enterprises. A lot of them take unskilled workers and make them skilled workers and they grow within the industry. The power and the importance of the travel industry, in terms of economies globally, is enormous. Of course actually, when you look at and take for example, the travel agent industry, it is has a much higher proportion female than male. And as such, we should be saying female ministers of tourism. I remember when I did an event in Bahrain in 2009, they had a female Minister of Tourism, and I was blown away and pleased by this. But still, too many times even at events and exhibitions, you see a lineup of ministers of tourism, and their team cutting the ribbons, and it is exclusively white male, an older white male.

YS Chi:

Oh, boy. That's coming from a white male yourself.

Simon Mayle:

Exactly, exactly. True, and really linked to that, I would like to see governments placing a lot more importance on the travel industry, travel and tourism industry. And realising how much it brings to their countries as well, and how much it brings to the smaller micro enterprises across their countries.

YS Chi:

Taking this all the way back to where we started. The impact of the Coronavirus and all these statistics you shared with me, from two and a half trillion dollar economy to 160 million people involved and so on. It has demonstrated how much the lack of movement has impacted the economies hasn't it? Especially in developing countries, and the amount of GNP, GDP that evaporated when people couldn't cross borders.

Simon Mayle:

Exactly. I think that is the saddest part to it. In that the people who most rely on tourism and most need tourism revenue, are the poorest countries. I guess that is the beauty of travel, it is not only educating people on both the receiving and the traveling end about different cultures, about how travel is the antithesis of closed mindedness. But it really is spreading wealth globally. That's where it's critically important. I think out of the top economies in the world, I think only 25% are able to support informal tourism workers. The smaller economies aren't able to support these workers whilst there are no travelers entering their countries.

YS Chi:

So my last question Simon, is there anything that Reed Exhibitions can do to help make these people a little bit less vulnerable? Should there be another type of challenge imposed like this?

Simon Mayle:

As I said before, I really see that exhibitions and particularly our events at Reed Exhibitions because we are the leaders in our specific industries. We are the barometer of the industry. We're the place that people look not only for inspiration and for return on investment in terms of making business easy, but they look for us for leading information, which is exactly why ILTM has produced this kind of research to say to government, governmental bodies, that's the importance of this industry. As we know, the vast majority of people who participate in our events are small and medium enterprises. So giving them not only the tools physically in the information, but giving them belief in digital events will support people going forward as well. I think Reed Exhibitions has a massive role to play in shaping, government's attitudes. I also see that the way we bring the private sector for example, to events like PROUD Exhibitions we're seeing massive participation from the Maldives, which still has anti homosexual legislation. The private sector that we bring to our events can also influence the government and governmental sector. We may have seen situations like that with Dorchester collection, who was famously boycotted for the Sultan of Brunei's legislation which was indeed reversed.

YS Chi:

Well Simon, you're operating on two different domains, but boy, do they overlap so nice and neatly. Thank you for joining us today Simon. Really appreciate your insights and more importantly, really appreciate your passion.

Simon Mayle:

Thank you so much YS, it was an absolute pleasure to talk to you today. Thank you for the opportunity.

YS Chi:

Thank you to our listeners for tuning in. Don't forget to hit subscribe on your podcast app to get new episodes as soon as they are released. And thank you for listening.