Regional luxury travel market to outpace Europe’s

“The Asian luxury travel market is one to watch,” Hazem Hussein, executive vice president for airline commercial, said yesterday.
North America and Western Europe lead the world’s luxury travel market – accounting for 64 per cent of global outbound luxury trips despite only making up 18 per cent of the world’s population.
However, the compound annual growth rate in luxury outbound trips for Asia-Pacific from 2011-25, projected at 6.3 per cent, will be higher than Europe’s 5.3 per cent.
Leading the region are India at 12.8 per cent and China at 12.2 per cent.
India’s projected growth is the highest of the 25 countries explored by Amadeus and presents great potential for luxury travel investment over the coming decade.
Growth in luxury travel will outpace overall travel, spurred by consumers’ desire for life experiences.
Over the next 10 years, growth in outbound luxury trips is projected at 6.2 per cent, almost a third greater than 4.8 per cent for overall travel.
 Hussein said the Asian luxury travel market presents a lucrative opportunity for travel players but will not be an easy one to crack.
“Asian luxury travellers have a unique set of motivations and needs.
“Truly understanding what drives their travel behaviour will be critical for travel providers looking to tap into that segment.”
Amadeus’ report, “Shaping the Future of Luxury Travel”, reveals the fresh challenges and opportunities that the luxury travel market will face over the next decade.
Last year, Amadeus released a report called “Future Traveller Tribes 2030”, which identified six traveller tribes based on consumer behaviour, recognising that purchasing patterns change depending on the circumstances of each trip.
Using similar methodology, the new report identifies six luxury traveller tribes to help travel providers better target their luxury customer market – always luxury, special occasion, bluxury, cash-rich, time-poor, strictly opulent and independent affluent.
“Luxury means different things to different people and this is especially true today.
“As emergent middle classes seek the material aspect of luxury travel, more mature markets are craving a new, evolved kind of luxury.
“This is why offering luxury customers a relevant personal and exclusive experience will become even more crucial than it is today – it will be a differentiating factor between old and new luxury.
“Exploring the latest technologies and innovations for making the industry work better as a whole is key to achieving a new level of luxury that has never existed before,” said Rob Sinclair-Barnes, strategic marketing director at Amadeus IT Group.
The report was commissioned by and developed with data from Tourism Economics as well as expert interviews with global luxury travel experts across specialist travel concierge agencies, airlines, hoteliers and intermediary suppliers through Connections, a global networking event organiser for luxury travel providers.