Travel Trends:
How tourism will change
When we start travelling again, holidays will no doubt look a little different, both in terms of destination choices and how we choose to travel. Jumping from city to city on jampacked itineraries will likely fall by the wayside for slower-paced trips and spending quality time in fewer places. And, of course, health and safety will be paramount. Here, the team from luxury tour operator Lightfoot Travel give us a year’s worth of “new” holiday inspiration.
Delayed Honeymoons
Attack of the revenge honeymooners
For those who managed to get married in 2020, chances are the wedding was a subtler affair than originally planned and the honeymoon was postponed. The good news is that revenge honeymoons are coming back with a vengeance and with couples armed with savings from pared- back weddings, these are now bigger and more elaborate than ever. Honeymoon staples such as the Maldives, African safaris and multi-country South America adventures are frequent requests, but lately we’ve been seeing more offbeat pairings such as Jordan and the Seychelles, Bhutan and remote Indonesia, and an Antarctic cruise with Australia’s Great Barrier Reef as well.
Private Island Resorts
Holidaying Robinson Crusoe-style
Seclusion, remoteness and privacy are all keywords we’re hearing as people look ahead to 2022 travel. For those with the means, booking a private island is the way to go. Banwa Private Island, located in the Philippines’ Palawan Province, is our top choice. The island can host 22 guests in six private-pool multi-bedroom villas, dotted across a 15-acre island where you can paddle board, indulge in unlimited spa treatments or head to the nearby UNESCO World Heritage Site of Tubbataha Reef for scuba diving or snorkelling.
Don’t quite have the cash to splash on your own private island? Countries like the Maldives, French Polynesia and Fiji are full of boutique private island resorts where you may not get your own island, but you’ll only have to share it with a handful of other guests.
Unique & Unusual Trips
Get off the beaten path
Escape the crowds and visit places few people have been before. In January, Tourism New Zealand initiated a campaign to encourage travellers to avoid influencer-driven hotspots and opt for less touristy areas instead (#dosomethingnewnz), and we’re loving this idea. Instead of the well-trodden Ankor Wat path in Cambodia, why not journey to the untouched southern islands around Koh Rong? Keen to avoid the hordes of Great Migration tourists in Kenya? Head to lesser-visited Namibia with its unique desert-adapted wildlife and hauntingly beautiful Skeleton Coast. From the jungles of Papua New Guinea to Mongolia’s far western land of the eagle hunters, now is the time to plan something completely out of the ordinary.
Private Jet Journeys
Travel with flexibility and ease
With flight delays and cancellations sadly becoming the norm these days, travel by private jet has steadily increased in popularity. Immigration queues are all but avoided and you can cut pre-departure waiting time in half. While chartering a plane does not come cheap, there are plenty of options based on destination, duration of the holiday and number of guests, and flights can be tailored to suit different budgets. If flying on a private jet is on your bucket list, now is the time to do it!
Self-Drive Journeys
Hit the open road!
Once holidaying resumes some form of normalcy, there’s still no better time to skip the airports, embrace the slow life and embark on that epic road trip. Pre-COVID, trips were often rushed, with travellers wanting to spend minimal time getting from place to place. These days, given the choice between a domestic flight versus a relaxing scenic drive, more and more people are opting to ditch the queues, health checks and delays that come hand in hand with air travel. Australia, New Zealand, Europe and North America all have the wide-open roads and road-trip culture ideal for self-drive itineraries.
Multi-Generational Family Holidays
Long overdue family reunions
If you’re a Hong Kong expat, you likely spent 2020 apart from extended family. And, if you’re fortunate to have family close by, chances are your time together last year was spent at home or with fewer meaningful new experiences. Looking ahead to 2022, we’re seeing a real demand for holidays that bring the whole family together. Private villas in places such as Sri Lanka, Greece and Phuket are in high demand, particularly over the Easter, summer, October half-term and Christmas holidays when families can get away for an extended period.
Along with private villa escapes, we’ve also seen an increase in multi-generational safari holidays for families with older children. After a year of missed occasions and celebrations, families are seeing the importance of those once-in-a-lifetime experiences with relatives now more than ever before.