CIU hosts Prof. Dr. Leonardo Aureliano Da Silva, one of the important names from the luxury tourism sector

Brazilian Prof. Dr. Leonardo Aureliano Da Silva, who is one of the important names from the luxury tourism sector, gave a seminar on Luxury Tourism from the perspective of Attachment Theory to the Cyprus International University (CIU) School of Tourism and Hotel Management students and academicians.

Stating that the idea of luxury consumption has a long history that developed over the centuries, Prof. Dr. Da Silva went on to say, “The logic of luxury consumption is not static. Luxury consumption is a dynamic concept”. Explaining that defining luxury consumption is difficult, Da Silva added that the inclusion of different perceptions is necessary within its evaluation.

While discussing the concept of “luxury”, Da Silva pointed out that evaluating additions such as product, service, and experience is important, and elaborated, “You can define luxury as a pure, individual, unique, special, and new experience. However, these definitions are different from the definitions within other cultures, due to those cultures having their own set of norms, values, symbols, and artifacts.

Da Silva noted that when looking from the perspective of tourism, luxury tourism is established when all the components that tourism consists of come together, and advised that it is for this reason that the concept of luxury tourism can be defined as a fully harmonized concept.

Informing that in psychology, Attachment Theory can be explained as the tendency of people to expect closeness from other individuals, and the feeling of safety with that individual, Prof. Dr. Da Silva went on to state, "Within the scope of Attachment Theory, we can see people's efforts in coping with stress via luxury tourism activities".

Highlighting that particularly when under stress, as a personal coping mechanism people can exhibit behaviors of luxury consumption, Da Silva noted that therefore, institutions that wish to provide luxury tourism services should not create a strategy that is based only on price policy. At the same time, within the field of luxury tourism, facilities offering unique, special, and new experiences will always be preferred.