Asia Is The New Hot Destination for Luxury Travel

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Asia Is The New Hot Destination for Luxury Travel

By K Oanh Ha | Bloomberg Businessweek | July 11, 2024

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During cherry blossom season this spring, travel agency Remote Lands took a family of six on a monthlong trip to Japan that included private helicopter rides, VIP tickets to a sumo wrestling tournament, a private tea ceremony led by a renowned master and meetings with top textile and lacquerware artists. The price: $500,000. “Before, it was bragging rights for Americans to say, ‘Oh, I went to Europe to ski in Val d’Isère,’” says Catherine Heald, founder of the New York agency specializing in bespoke luxury vacations. “Now the bragging rights go for skiing in Japan or to charter a deluxe yacht trip in Thailand.”

Heald’s business is booming as wealthy travelers vacation with a vengeance following the pandemic. A cornerstone of that rebound is the newfound cachet of Asia, where a slew of pricey hotels and resorts have opened in recent years to serve flush travelers. And once on the ground, they’ll find a growing range of activities such as sailing trips with private dive guides in Indonesia and train excursions with spas and fine dining across Singapore and Malaysia.

Luxury travel in Asia—worth about $271 billion in 2023—accounts for a fifth of the global luxe tourism market, with growth expected to clock almost 9% annually through the end of the decade.  

Asians are splurging, too: China’s biggest online travel agency, Trip.com, saw demand for premium tours more than double in the first four months of 2024 from the same period a year earlier. And 68% of high-net-worth consumers in Asia Pacific expect to spend more on leisure travel in the next year, with nearly three-fourths planning a holiday in the region.

Remote Lands’ multiweek trips to Asia typically top $100,000 for a couple—about 40% more than in 2019. And a 15-day journey through Nepal, Bhutan, India and Sri Lanka by custom-outfitted Airbus business jet—at a cost of $109,000 per person—is sold out and has a waitlist. “Demand is over the roof,” Heald says.

Asian hoteliers have under construction more than 3,600 projects totaling 700,000 rooms, a record level, and about 15% of that is geared toward the luxury market. In Europe, by contrast, fewer than 800 projects, with 117,000 rooms, are being built. “Luxury travelers want to experience something different  and Asia offers a diversity of experiences—beach, mountains, cities and great food and culture.”  Understanding that the average age for luxury consumers in Asia Pacific is younger than in other parts of the world, Asia is expanding its luxury portfolio for the future.

3 key takeaways from the article

1. Travel business is booming as wealthy travelers vacation with a vengeance following the pandemic. A cornerstone of that rebound is the newfound cachet of Asia, where a slew of pricey hotels and resorts have opened in recent years to serve flush travelers.  Luxury travel in Asia—worth about $271 billion in 2023—accounts for a fifth of the global luxe tourism market, with growth expected to clock almost 9% annually through the end of the decade.  
2. Asian hoteliers have under construction more than 3,600 projects totaling 700,000 rooms, a record level, and about 15% of that is geared toward the luxury market. In Europe, by contrast, fewer than 800 projects, with 117,000 rooms, are being built. “Luxury travelers want to experience something different  and Asia offers a diversity of experiences—beach, mountains, cities and great food and culture.”
3. Understanding that the average age for luxury consumers in Asia Pacific is younger than in other parts of the world, Asia is expanding its luxury portfolio for the future.

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Topics: Tourism, Asia, Luxury Travel