For Yahoo: Personal enlightenment, art and wellness driving luxury travel: report

Jul 29

Jul 29 For Yahoo: Personal enlightenment, art and wellness driving luxury travel: report

Stock image by Simon Migaj

Sept. 26, 2016

Wealthy travelers with unlimited budgets and nothing but time on their hands are increasingly looking for “transformative” experiences that promise life-changing epiphanies, enlightenment and intellectual stimulation.

That's one of the overriding conclusions out of a new report on the “2016 Future of Luxury Travel,” presented by consultancy group Resonance at the International Luxury Hotel Association Summit in Washington DC over the weekend.

For the report, authors surveyed nearly 2,391 US travelers with a minimum household income of $200,000 and a net worth of $2 million, representing the top five percent of US travelers. The top one percent reported household incomes of $400,000 or more and a net worth of $8 million.

After looking at their online responses, authors identified the top 10 trends driving the luxury travel market and placed “Travel as Transformation” as the most sought-after vacation among elite travelers.

And while that may also be true for travelers with more modest budgets, authors point out that “...wealthy travelers have a far wider range of learning adventures to choose from.”