The luxury travel event returns with a fresh new theme: the year of Health and Wellness.

Alison Gilmore, ILTM’s portfolio director explains why this theme is an intrinsic business opportunity to the luxury travel industry: “ILTM’s Year of Health and Wellness is the year when yesterday’s focus on experiential experiences and transformative travel settle into a wider, more permanent focus on enhanced quality of life and optimum wellbeing. 

“At this year’s Forum, ILTM launches research and gathers a community of  wellness experts that all draw the same conclusion; in the future, all travel is wellness travel, every trip is expected to enhance the physical, mental and social wellbeing of the traveller, transformation is the very promise of travel, and today’s travel brands are the solution to one of the biggest problems of our age – an individual’s health and well-being.. The future travel economy is based on a lifelong, personal and emotional quest for longevity, where travel is the short cut to the end goal of wellness.

“It’s time to take the first step into the future, where hotel brands not only provide a break from the pressures of modern life, but design experiences where the journey undertaken is a journey into oneself, and where travel and travel brands partner with the traveller help to prevent disease, improve health, enhance quality of life and bring a person to increasingly optimum levels of
wellbeing.”

The wellness industry today is worth an estimated $4.2 tn dollars, of which wellness tourism currently equates to $639 bn. Wellness tourism is also growing twice as quickly as tourism expenditure in general, with an annual growth of 14 per cent.

Dan Buettner, founder of Blue Hotspots, and one of the keynote speakers at ILTM Cannes this year points out that “finding your purpose” is the single most effective short cut to health and wellbeing. According to him, the quest for self-actualisation is forecast to be a mega-trend in the global luxury travel economy.

REGIONAL TRAVEL TRENDS

Closer home, we speak to Harvey Lines, general manager, Al Majid Travel, for a bit more on regional luxury travel trends.

“Luxury travel is no longer about flat beds on planes and high-end hotels. Yes, they will continue to feature heavily but the traditional luxury traveller is looking for new experiences and new destinations that provide a sense of adventure. They will also want to travel responsibly and so we have to make sure that our product selection minimises any negative social, environmental and economic impacts.

“In fact, we have to feature destinations where tourism will have a positive economic effect. For example, including dining with local families is a great way to give back to communities.

“But the one trend the industry must get right is personalisation and this may prove to be the most challenging of all requiring a change in mindset and culture, and investment in CRM,” says Lines.

 The Middle East being a very young population has a very high percentage of millennials and Gen Z. The likelihood is that luxury travellers are going to come from this demographic, predicts Lines. “Millennials will want to get off the beaten track, immerse themselves in food, art, music and culture, travel responsibly of course and have all of their arrangements personalised.”

Research conducted by IPK International and commissioned by ITB Berlin confirms that half of all luxury trips being made globally today are made by millennials.

Today’s millennials are between 18 and 38 years old and hold a market share of over 40 per cent of all worldwide outbound trips. Today, half of all international luxury rips (being defined as trips with expenditure of more than 750 euros ($857) per night on short trips or more than 500 euros ($571) per night on long trips) are made by millennials.

Furthermore, among luxury travellers, millennials are those with the highest average expenditure.

The same research also shares that millennials are more sensitive towards over tourism and are more likely to be bothered when destinations are overcrowded by people – hence millennials are looking for experiences that are more authentic.

Lines says, “Yes, being pampered is very nice; being able to select your pillows in a luxury hotel is great; transferring from the airport in the latest Mercedes S Class is the stylish way to reach your hotel, but does this affect you positively as a human being? Is flying First Class a character builder? Does staying in the Royal Suite leave you with stories that you can tell your grandchildren? I don’t believe so.

“Luxury is about conquering a mountain in the Himalayas, taking a selfie at the North Pole, witnessing the Great Migration in Africa, Great White Shark cage diving in South Africa, learning how to make pasta in Italy and enjoying an open-air opera in Verona.”

Lines goes on to share invaluable advice for agents in the GCC luxury sector. “Really get to know your clients and what it will take to deliver an amazing experience. They place a huge amount of trust in us so work hard during the consultation stage especially and gather as much information as you can about everyone travelling.

“Make sure that what you propose to them is inspirational and personalised.

“If it doesn’t tick these two boxes, they will walk. If it does and you show them how much you truly care, there’s a good chance that a long-term relationship will be formed, and something called emotional attachment will begin to emerge. This also goes without saying – meticulously check all travel arrangements with suppliers and make sure your clients have your mobile number in case they need to speak to you during the trip.”

And why should we all be concerned about travellers from the GCC?

A new report from the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) and the European Travel Commission (ETC) says that outbound spending from the GCC to Europe is six times the global average.

‘The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) Outbound Travel Market’, a new report prepared by UNWTO and ETC with the support of Value Retail finds that per-capita international tourism spending from the GCC was 6.5 times higher than the global average in 2017, with expenditure estimated to be more than $60 billion in 2017, up from $40 billion in 2010.

According to Lines, Europe and a lot more features in this season’s bouquet of interesting luxury holidays. “Slow is definitely back with some amazing luxury rail experiences gaining interest like the Golden Eagle from Moscow to Vladivostok or the Maharaja’s Express in India. Luxury Cruise is also growing with Seaborn, Silversea, Regent, Oceania, Azamara and Sea Dream. And then there are some incredible river cruises in Europe and the Far East.

“In terms of places to visit, I believe that we will see Iceland, Montenegro, Croatia, Cambodia, Bhutan, India, South Africa, Japan, Russia and China picking up with established favourites like the Maldives, Switzerland, Thailand and the Seychelles still proving popular.