Luxury Escapes demand surges

NEW research published today by Luxury Escapes (LE) has confirmed the ongoing aspiration by Australians to travel overseas, with 40% of the company’s clientele planning to take two or more international trips in 2020.

The report, titled Travel 2020: Forecasting the new decade of travel, was compiled by research firm Nature, surveying LE’s own 3.2 million strong customer base as well as a broader cohort of Australian consumers, with almost 20,000 responses overall.

Key trends highlighted included top destinations to travel to in the next decade, with Canada coming in first spot, followed by the USA, Italy, the UK and then Greece.

In terms of repeat destinations Japan was top of the list, followed by NZ, the UK, USA and Italy.

Luxury Escapes CEO, Cameron Holland, said about a third of respondents spent more than $10,000 a year on international travel, while 50% spent at least $2,000 annually on domestic trips.

Other trends noted included “the connected trip,” with 25% of travellers wanting to be online 24/7, while 14% preferred to be off the grid.

In terms of travel interests, food was at the top of the list, cited by 59% of respondents, just ahead of local culture at 55%.

Holland said the research confirmed booking trends.

“We’re seeing more and more the importance of providing relevant experiences through personalisation, whilst also inspiring travellers to visit destinations they never previously considered,” he said.

Interestingly the report also confirmed the scale of Luxury Escapes, noting the firm’s total passenger numbers of over 500,000 so far in 2019.

The full report is available at www.luxuryescapes.com.