A luxury travel bubble is swelling
As the luxury category has swelled to encompass both the uber-rich and aspirational splurgers, travel companies have been quick to invest. PHOTO: AFP
When you go on vacation, do you ever treat yourself to an upgraded airline seat? Or book the (admittedly cheapest) room at a five-star hotel? Maybe splurge on a spa day or celebratory Michelin-starred meal? If any of this sounds familiar, you may be what the travel industry calls an 'aspirational' luxury traveller. And much to the industry's potential dismay, you're also inflating an economic bubble that may be about to burst.
According to McKinsey, the aspirational set, defined as those with between US$100,000 (S$129,000) and US$1 million in net worth, now accounts for 35 per cent of the global luxury travel market. In 2023, they spent US$84 billion on high-end vacations, a figure expected to grow to US$107 billion by 2028. That purchasing power has helped turn luxury travel from a glamorous niche into a major profit centre, sparking a race among airlines, hotels, cruise lines, tour companies and the rest to cater to and capture this market segment.
Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
44 minutes ago
- Straits Times
China's vice-president visits Spain as mutual courtship blossoms
MADRID - China's Vice-President Han Zheng arrived in Spain on June 10 for a four-day trip during which he will meet with King Felipe and Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, a further sign of increasingly close economic and political ties. Mr Han's visit is taking place two months after Mr Sanchez visited Beijing for the third time in as many years. There, he sought to woo China's President Xi Jinping as global trade reels from US President Donald Trump's tariffs policy. The Socialist premier has been vying to position Madrid as an interlocutor between China and the European Union, as well as to attract more Chinese investment in advanced technology such as batteries, electric vehicles and hydrogen. In 2024, auto maker Stellantis and Chinese battery maker CATL announced plans to build one of Europe's largest EV battery factories in Spain. However, not all is idyllic in Spain's relations with China. Beijing's anti-dumping inquiry into EU pork launched in 2024 in retaliation for Brussels' tariffs on Chinese EVs hit Spain, a top exporter, hard. Mr Sanchez's last visit to China, however, clinched expanded access for Spanish exports of pork stomach - a product widely consumed in China but not previously authorised. Mr Han will meet Mr Sanchez on the morning of June 11 in Madrid, Mr Sanchez's office said, while King Felipe will receive the Chinese official on June 12, according to the royal household's agenda. The Spanish monarch is also scheduled to visit China later this year to commemorate the signing of a strategic partnership 20 years ago. After his meetings with Mr Sanchez and Spain's King, Mr Han is set to travel to Seville to meet Andalusia's regional leader, Mr Juan Manuel Moreno, who in 2024 secured over €2.5 billion (S$3.6 billion) of Chinese investments in the southern Spanish region. According to projections by tourism lobby Turespana, the number of visitors to Spain from China is expected to surge by 36 per cent this summer compared to 2024, making Spain the European destination with the biggest growth in tourists from the Asian nation. REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Straits Times
2 hours ago
- Straits Times
Italy plans to scrap no single buyer rule in Serie A TV rights sale
FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Serie A - Napoli v Sassuolo - Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, Naples, Italy - August 27, 2023 General view inside the stadium before the match through the television camera REUTERS/Ciro De Luca/File Photo MILAN - Italy plans to remove a ban on Italy's Serie A top flight soccer league selling its domestic broadcast rights to a single buyer, a draft government bill seen by Reuters showed, marking a major overhaul of media rules for live sports events. Italy introduced the "no single buyer rule" to avoid creating a dominant player in the pay-TV sector in 2008, when it approved a law entrusting sport leagues to collectively sell the rights to screen live matches. Broadcasting rights are the main revenue source for Serie A clubs but they lag behind those of other major European national leagues. Under existing contracts expiring in the 2028-29 season, Serie A earns some 900 million euros ($1 billion) annually from sport streaming service DAZN and pay-TV firm Sky, with the former screening all of the games and Sky co-broadcasting some of them. That sum is roughly half of the annual domestic broadcasting revenue of England's Premier League, which has a 'no single buyer rule' in place. Germany's Bundesliga, which last year removed its 'no single buyer rule', pockets some 1.1 billion euros annually from domestic broadcasting licences, according to data compiled by UEFA. The Italian government also plans to introduce changes in the way Serie A distributes the TV revenue among clubs, raising to "above 50%" from the current 50% the sum which must be equally split among all clubs, the draft bill showed. Clubs which develop and field young Italian players will be also granted additional revenue.($1 = 0.8758 euros) REUTERS Join ST's Telegram channel and get the latest breaking news delivered to you.
Business Times
3 hours ago
- Business Times
Netflix to invest 1 billion euros in Spain productions to 2029
[MADRID] US streaming giant Netflix said on Tuesday (Jun 10) it was going to invest more than 1 billion euros (S$1.47 billion) in productions in Spain, which has becoming one of audiovisual creation hubs in Europe. 'Over the next four years we plan to invest over one billion euros in Spain,' Netflix co-chief executive Ted Sarandos said at an event in the company's studios near Madrid. 'With this investment, we will be able to contribute even more to the Spanish economy, create more Spanish jobs, tell more great stories made in Spain,' he said, standing alongside Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez. The event marked the 10-year anniversary of Netflix's presence in Spain. It opened its studios there – the first ones outside the United States – in April 2019, shortly after finding global success with the Spanish crime series Money Heist. Since then, it has turned the 22,000-square-metre studios into one of its main sites for film and TV production in the European Union. According to Netflix, its activity in the country supports more than 20,000 jobs. AFP
