The CEO of Elite Travel Italy on the record growth of luxury incoming and the paradox of standardization in the most competitive market in Europe
While US tourism to Italy records record growth of 7.6% compared to last year, most operators in the sector still organize trips as if they were assembly lines. It’s the paradox that Cosimo Spagnesi, CEO and founder of Elite Travel Italylays bare at a time when the Italian luxury market is experiencing perhaps its best season: demand at an all-time high, international HNWI customers more aware and selective than ever, famous destinations now saturated.
«Tourism has become a mass industry even in the premium segment», explains Spagnesi, who in four years built a company specialized in luxury incoming, working mainly with the major American agencies. «But those arriving from the USA don’t want the Rome-Florence-Venice of the catalogue. He wants to feel part of a story, not a tourist in a queue.»
The tailor against the assembly line
With twenty years in luxury tourism behind him and a career in the hotel industry of excellence, Spagnesi founded Elite Travel Italy in the midst of the pandemic, in 2021, when the market seemed frozen. The intuition was precise: positioning itself as a player capable of transforming the desire for authenticity into itineraries tailored around the customer, avoiding the standardization that paralyzes the segment.
“We operate as tailors,” he says. «We measure the customer in detail: it’s not just the destination, it’s the pace of the journey, the choice of guide, the exclusive access to museums generally closed to the public, the selection of hotels that truly understand what it means to host sophisticated clientele.»
The company experienced accelerated organic growth just as the general tourism market stabilized. The key? Refuse to scale through volumes. Each trip remains unique, tailored around the customer’s real desires. Not package. Don’t compromise.
When Italy becomes a conscious luxury destination
In the first quarter of 2026, incoming arrivals in Italy marked a +5.5%with attendances in March hitting +7.9%. But the most important fact is the composition: it is not volume tourism, it is conscious tourism, willing to spend one average of 2,000 euros per day for authentic experiences, with average stays of 8.2 days.
«These numbers mean that tourists no longer choose based on price, but based on the quality of the experience», continues Spagnesi. «And Italy, paradoxically, has an enormous advantage: it possesses non-mainstream destinations of extraordinary wealth. Umbria, the
Marche, the minor villages of Tuscany. Places that mass tourism has not yet standardized.”
Precisely here lies the breaking point with the traditional model. While generic operators chase volumes on saturated destinations, who knows how to organize real tailor-made trips — those who master exclusive access to historic buildings, those who have genuine partnerships with local producers, those who understand the rhythm of “slow travel” — access a completely different market. Less competitive, with high margins, with customers who come back and recommend.
The wave that never repeats itself
Spagnesi is convinced that this window will not last indefinitely. «The incoming market towards Italy is accelerating. American agencies are re-evaluating Italy as a signature destination. But in two years, three at most, the ability to organize standardized experiences will have saturated the basic market.»
Anyone who has not invested in the ability to listen to the customer, build non-interchangeable itineraries, guarantee access and authentic partnerships will be left out. «It’s not a question of branding. It is operational competence. It is the tailor who wins over the sewing machine.»
The Elite Travel Italy model – limited growth, high margins, retention of HNWI customers, structural partnership with US operators – today represents the most coherent response to this transition. Not for everyone. For those who know luxury cannot be standardized.
In collaboration with Elite Travel Italy
