Amadeus Report: ‘Luxury Travel’ Outpaces the Rest of the Travel Industry

Consumers’ desire for life experiences is spurring a growth in luxury travel that is outpacing the rest of the travel industry, finds a new Amadeus report featuring data from Tourism Economics. Amadeus is a global travel technology provider.

The report looks at luxury travel trends until 2025 to help the travel industry better target and service its fastest-growing segment.

Between 2011 and 2015, luxury travel, in terms of outbound flights on business or first class, saw a 4.5 percent compound annual growth rate (CAGR), versus 4.2 percent for overall travel. This trend will continue to accelerate over the next ten years, with luxury travel trips projected to grow at a CAGR of 6.2 percent between 2015 and 2025, almost a third faster than overall travel at 4.8 percent.

According to Amadeus, the trend is “good news” for the luxury travel sector. The report, Shaping the Future of Luxury Travel, reveals the fresh challenges and opportunities that the luxury travel market will face over the next decade.

Among key findings of the report is that North America and Western Europe account for 64 percent of global outbound luxury trips, despite only making up 18 percent of the world’s population.

Also, from 2011-2025, Asia Pacific’s luxury travel market will see faster overall growth than Europe’s, but this growth will decelerate from 2015-2025.

The report also identifies a hierarchy of luxury travel needs, ranging from 5 star quality and service standards to exclusive VIP privacy and security.

In 2015, Amadeus released a report called Future Traveller Tribes 2030, which identified six traveller tribes based on consumer behaviour, recognizing that purchasing patterns change depending on the circumstances of each trip.

Using similar methodology, Shaping the Future of Luxury Travel, 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.

“Understanding your business’s role in delivering an end-to-end luxury experience for a traveller is key to improving collaboration, and reinforcing an industry-wide push for consistent luxury service”, says Rob Sinclair-Barnes, Strategic Marketing Director at Amadeus IT Group.

“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”, he added.

The report, Shaping the Future of Luxury Travel, includes dozens of 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.

To download the report, press here.