Luxury tourism is back to its pre-COVID level according to the Luxury Outlook 2022 conducted by the Boston Institute and the Comité Colbert. It should reach 6% per year for the next 3 years. They expect record sales for this year 2024. This observation seems incredible when we know the consequences of the pandemic on the economic means that the population gave to its travels.
What is Luxury tourism?
Luxury tourism is the opposite of mass tourism. It calls for the total personalization of the trip. Travelers are looking for authentic experiences and want to spend quality time with their families. Multi-generational or family stays are the biggest trend in luxury tourism. When a few years ago it was most of the time for older people, now it is the time for the younger to experience the feeling of a customized trip according to their expectations.
This quest for responsible travel in addition to the inflation that the world is currently undergoing has considerably increased the prices of luxury tourism. Tourism specialists expect a 47% increase in sales for this type of tourism by 2024. The air sector has increased by 30%, and between 40% and 50% for land transport depending on the destination. In Europe, luxury tourism represents between 130 and 170 billion euros. This is 8 times higher than the average tourist’s budget.
How could luxury tourism have imposed itself in a disastrous economic and environmental context?
Young people dream bigger and more responsibly about travel. At a time when all the information and procedures are available directly through the Internet, they are increasingly turning to tourism actors who offer to manage everything for them. It is certainly the consequence of too much information available for free and quickly on the internet that pushes them to know what they want. From the destination to the activity to the least impactful ways to travel. They understand that tailor-made travel is complicated when you want to reduce your carbon footprint. They are turning more and more to eco-responsible accommodation and less polluting activities at all levels. Luxury travel agents have seized this opportunity to sell more to more people.
The new generation, babies of the digital world, have certain requirements regarding their travel experiences. While a few years ago, young people were specialists in the art of creating their trips without intermediaries such as travel agencies, they are now more and more going through the latter who manage their vacation program from A to Z. This is why travel agencies have experienced the following 2 new challenges: to be able to give their customers what they want to the activity near and to be part of a sustainable responsibility approach.
After the pandemic
Since the pandemic that shook the whole world, clients have realized how difficult it is to create and manage a trip that reflects their image while making sure they don’t miss anything and don’t have too much impact on the planet. Their desire to see the world while they can is a huge gain and profit for the industry. They know what they want: a safari in Tanzania, a visit to places not usually accessible to the general public in the Maldives, or the exploration of nature during an intimate program created especially for them in Ouganda.
The pandemic has allowed people to be more aware and realistic about their impact on the world. The travel agency network Virtuoso conducted a survey concluding that 82% of travelers said that the pandemic allowed them to understand that they should travel responsibly and 78% now decide to turn to travel agencies with a sustainable development policy.
To meet this growing demand for customized and responsible travel, tourism agencies are forced to recruit more. That is why we can say that luxury tourism is doing very well and contributes to the economy and the development of open-mindedness
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