Skift Take
Experience continues to trump price for high-net-worth travelers, whose appetite for luxury travel isn't slowing down.
Virtuoso's platform has a network of 20,000 luxury travel advisors, and here's what they're seeing: Sales of exclusive experiences are up. Yacht bookings are up. Prices – way up.
High-net-worth travelers are "going from one private experience to another," said Misty Belles, Virtuoso vice president for public relations during a media briefing Monday in Las Vegas. "Rates are still driving really high throughout the fall," said Belles.
Luxury travelers are spending between $10,000 to $50,000 per trip, most notably for culinary travel, according to 70% of Virtuoso's advisors.
Sales across all its travel sectors were 69% higher than in 2019 and 36% higher than in 2022. Cruises have also shown marked recovery, with sales up 106% compared to 2019.
Yacht bookings for 2023 are also up 79% over 2019, with high demand in the Caribbean, Croatia, Greece and San