MyTravelResearch.com and Luxperience enter partnership
MyTravelResearch.com and Luxperience have partnered to uncover the latest trends, opportunities and challenges facing the luxury travel industry.
Preliminary findings from the initiative, which will have an Asia Pacific focus, will be presented at the Luxperience Thought Leaders’ Forum that takes place in Sydney, 6 September 2015.
MyTravelResearch.com will carry out original research that will evaluate current industry performance, find out who the luxury buyers are, and what motivates them. It will identify current and likely future trends in the lux sector. ”Once we’ve described the big picture and trends, we’ll identify gaps and unmet needs in the market,” says MyTravelResearch.com co-founder Carolyn Childs.
“We will suggest strategies, actions and products needed to ensure continued growth and customer satisfaction in the luxury travel sector.”
Luxperience, the lux travel trade show that takes place in Sydney in the three days after the Thought Leaders’ Forum, features many high-end travel products and services, primarily from Asia Pacific, the region with the fastest growth rate (10%) of high net worth individuals in the world. The co-branded report will also assess the concept of “value” in luxury travel.
For example, is “value” defined by authenticity, a dollar price, insights, feelings, going where other people don’t go, an immersive experience, giving back to the host community, or by other factors? Michelle Papas, the Director of Marketing and Buyer Relations at Luxperience says that each high-end traveller has specific needs that must be met by a travel industry that sometimes suffers a “curious blindness” – for example clinging to phone or in-person communication instead of embracing digital transactions.
Within the lux travel sector, there are many different kinds of travellers, says Childs. These include “hedonists,” “jet setters,” “philanthropists,” “lotus eaters,” and more. Some insist on arranging travel themselves. Some want it done for them.
Friends and family influence lux traveller decisions the most, followed by travel agent advice, website reviews, the travel press, and social networks, says Childs. In her initial research paper, “Luxury Travel and the Visitor Economy: Key Insights and Trends,” she notes that lux travellers are broadening out of the 40-60 age group and are focusing more on experiential travel at the expense of hedonism and display.
There is an increasing demand for mindfulness, wellbeing, learning, and philanthropy. The final MyTravelResearch/Luxperience co-branded luxury travel report is scheduled to be available by early December 2015.
There will be a budget version for smaller companies in the luxury travel sector, a medium-priced report option, and a personalised version at a premium price for operators with deeper pockets.
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