Virtuoso shared insight from its ‘data warehouse’ at Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas last week to paint a broad picture of the trends and patterns of luxury travellers who book with network agencies.
Misty Belles, Vice President, Global Public Relations at Virtuoso provided intel based on the bookings of Virtuoso’s travel agencies and advisors from around the world who produce over US$35 billion annually, offering a global perspective of where travellers are heading, and drawing on its 16 years of intelligence collection.
The luxury network currently has 20,000 influential travel advisors spread around the world – now, nearly half of those are outside the US – reaching 58 countries in which Virtuoso operates. The consortia has 2,300 preferred partnerships in more than 100 countries.
“Right now, we are seeing no slow-down in luxury experiences,” Belles told media, including LATTE, at Virtuoso Travel Week.
“Travel advisors are in high demand right now, and have been the past few years following the pandemic – that’s due to two forces coming together. Demand for travel that is incredibly high, plus we have travellers who can afford it.”
The pandemic brought forward the value of the advisor from an advocacy standpoint, Belles says. “With so many unknowns in travel, you really wanted somebody who has your back.”
“Now that travel has come roaring back, it’s having someone that has that access, who can get you into the places you want to be in, get you those experiences when there so many other people looking at the same thing.”
“Advice, access, accountability, advocacy, time-savings, value – important factors you just can’t replicate online or through any other way than through a Virtuoso advisor,” she said.
This year, Virtuoso has witnessed a 76% increase in the number of people looking for a Virtuoso advisor through the virtuoso.com website in 2024.
Amongst the data Belles shared, was the following:
Belles said that in 2023 there was a strong return to Japan, but in 2024, there is a “more wholesome return to Asia overall.”
“Self-care became a buzzword during the pandemic, now it’s self-preservation, with everything bombarding you all at once, so you need to take care of yourself.”
“Following the pandemic, revenge travel became a popular reason to get away, now that’s turned to revelry travel – people celebrating travel in the here and now in a much more joyful way.”Another trend Belles touched on was travel at any cost.
“As rates go up and up, we’re seeing travel at all costs where people are determined to have the experience they want, regardless of what that price is.”
What the numbers say
Belles reiterated feedback shared by David Kolner from the Opening Session of Virtuoso Travel Week the day prior, highlighting that sales this year are up 211% on pre-pandemic levels of 2019 (from January to end of June). and are up 14% higher than the corresponding period in 2023.
Virtuoso reached Tourism Economics’ forecast for travel’s rebound after the pandemic in 2019 two years earlier than the rest of the industry, Belles said, and “only continues to grow. From the luxury sector, we’re outpacing what the ‘normal’ leisure travel sales are.”
For the six months from January to June 2024 compared to 2023, by travel type, cruising is up 18.4%, on-site
(DMCs) are up 15.8% and tours have increased 12.7%. Hotels have reflected the least growth at 8.1%.
“Hotels are a little bit lower than what they were coming out of the pandemic. Hotels really lead the charge with huge gains, now we’re seeing cruise coming into its own,” she said.
Looking at the rest of the year, Belles said there has been a notable shift for travel in autumn (for the northern hemisphere). “I think fall is the new summer and we’re seeing the bookings are up.”
“Either way, we’re looking at a really strong rest of the year”
The top five countries for autumn travel for Virtuoso’s combined global audience are the US, Italy (consistently the top two nations), then France, Mexico and the UK. For the Australian market they are Italy, the US, France, Fiji and the UK.
Virtuoso’s top countries for travel in autumn are the United States, Italy, France, Mexico, United Kingdom, Spain, Saint Barthelemy, Portugal, Canada and Japan. Missing from the list that were present in 2023 are Greece, Ireland and South Africa.
The largest growth areas are: Canada (186%), Japan (160%) and St Barths (155%).
Destinations that Virtuoso is watching for travel over autumn are Greater China (up 146%), Japan (106%), Iceland (72%), French Polynesia (60%), UK & Ireland (33%) and Australia (18%).
Top Cities for autumn travel are Paris, London, New York (where rates are up 32%), Rome and Tokyo (where bookings to the Japanese capital are up 75% while rates have dipped 14%).
Belles said Paris is consistently the top city for Virtuoso’s clients, with bookings to the French capital up 9% and rates up 12% compared to last year.
London bookings are up 23% compared to the hotel rate rising just 2%, “indicating that rates are starting to level off in that market,” Belles suggested. In New York, bookings are up 14% but rates have jumped 32%.
Rome is up 35% while rates have risen 16%, and Tokyo bookings have skyrocketed 75% but the rate has fallen 14%.
“Value Cities” highlighted (those that represent great value) are Taormina (-22% ), Napa (-19%), Amsterdam (-11%).
Alternative destinations that advisors are recommending to clients wanting to avoid crowds in autumn include Slovenia, Portugal and Croatia; as well as Montenegro and Guatemala – or as Belles referred to them, “alternatives to the alternatives”.
More from Belles and a panel of travel agency owners in LATTE this week.
