2 days ago
How the mega rich are making holidays unaffordable
Ever feel you're being priced out of your annual trip abroad? For many ordinary holidaymakers the choice of affordable destinations seems to be narrowing by the year. These days anywhere even vaguely pretty has been colonised by luxury brands and their mega-rich devotees. With fewer 'hidden paradises' for them to discover, wealthy travellers are now flocking to places once considered standard holiday fare. And while the rest of us were 'staycationing' in the drizzle, investors were busily hoarding anywhere with a half-decent beach.
Oliver Corkhill, co-founder of bespoke tour operator Viadi Group, thinks the definition of luxury travel has evolved significantly in recent years. He says: 'Quality and exceptional service are now baseline expectations, with the focus shifting to what guests can truly take away from their holiday. It's no longer just about indulgence; it's about truly connecting with a destination.'
Corkhill believes there's been a mindset shift with wealthier travellers now seeking an 'enriching experience'. He acknowledges that this rise in expectations, coupled with companies competing to attract money-is-no-object travellers, has priced many people out of the market. Globally, the number of millionaires is spiralling, as is their desire for high-end experiential holidays. And destinations – particularly those stung by over-tourism but keen to maintain the income holidaymakers bring – are desperate to woo them.
This rush to inhabit the top-end of the market is a relatively new phenomenon. Moneyed travellers have traditionally been quite conservative in their choice of getaway. Old favourites such as Mustique, Monaco and the Amalfi Coast were seen as familiar, reassuringly expensive and far from the gaze of the package holiday hordes. But that was before the great post-Covid land grab.
Take one of the more recent examples, the tiny island of Platte in the Seychelles. Thirty years ago this remote idyll in the middle of the Indian Ocean could easily have become one of those lost paradise-on-a-budget destinations beloved of grubby backpackers – think tents on beaches and cheap, palm-fronded bars. But investors have long since hollowed out that meagre revenue stream.
In 2024 Hilton Group opened a five-star Waldorf Astoria resort on Platte, filling what had once been a small coconut plantation with imported palm trees and high-end lodges. The gamble appears to be paying off, with no shortage of high flyers lining up to pay around £12,000 a night for a five-bedroom villa.
The Seychelles wasn't always a magnet for the super rich. Local expat artist Michael Adams and his wife Heather moved there in 1972, and have fond memories of the islands before the developers arrived. 'For years the place was a hippy paradise with a few arty expats like us living a very simple, carefree life,' says Heather. 'We rarely encountered many tourists other than a few hairy dropouts seeking nirvana. These days it feels more like a playground for rich bankers and swanky wedding parties.'
European destinations are also trying to attract the billionaire class. Once known for their bohemian vibes, Greek islands such as Mykonos, Santorini and Ios have been well and truly blinged in recent years, abandoning the needs of ordinary holidaymakers in favour of the luxury end of the market. Santorini feels less like the rustic outpost of old and more a roped-off playground for the yachting fraternity. At Santa Marina, a five-star resort on Mykonos, rooms cost around £2,400 a night. It's all a far cry from the homely mama and baba pensions that once proliferated here.
Then there's Montenegro, once seen as one of Europe's most affordable destinations, but now home to fleets of mega-yachts and a plethora of five-star resorts such as Nikki Beach and The Chedi, part of a sprawling new beach community in Luštica Bay complete with luxury apartment blocks, a handsome town square and one of Europe's highest, most exclusive golf courses.
Even Benidorm has been trying to shed its less-than-salubrious image. When I visited recently the town felt more like a cross between Miami and Dubai with shiny new high-end hotels looming over the wide, perfectly manicured beaches. These days the old town feels properly cosmopolitan and the Boca del Calvari Museum even had a Goya exhibition.
You'll also struggle to find a decent room for less than £200, and up in the mountains overlooking Benidorm, the Asia Gardens and Melia Villaitana resorts are as good as anything you'll find in more traditionally lavish locations.
Ibiza's transformation from scuzzy 1970s hippie retreat to the world's most exclusive global party hub has been more gradual but no less dramatic. When I was there visiting friends recently, the decadent vibe felt like a two-fingered salute to all those bearded dropouts who decamped to what was then a remote corner of the Balearics.
In July, a room at the Six Senses in Cala Nova will set you back over £1,300 a night. That's assuming, of course, the hotel isn't already fully booked; Ibiza has become the Glastonbury festival of holiday destinations where tickets sell out fast. Many of the older residents I spoke to complained that the island itself had sold out to a new breed of flashy drug-fuelled pleasure-seekers with little interest in island life.
While the super rich are expanding their holiday horizons across every nook and cranny of Europe, don't expect long-haul destinations to offer much of an affordable alternative.
Back in the early 1990s, if you backpacked across south-east Asia you were still considered something of a pioneer. On Thailand's Koh Phi Phi, I remember being told not to drink the water and to carry a torch with me at all times due to unpredictable electricity supplies. How times have changed. Phi Phi along with neighbouring Koh Phangan and Koh Samui have seen heavy development over the past 20 years with sprawling resorts replacing the tatty beach huts of old.
Mexico's Yucatan peninsula has suffered a similar fate, with the unmade but picturesque ocean road from Cancun to Tulum now a gleaming highway lined with upscale hotels. Tulum, once a remote Mayan ruin surrounded by a smattering of camp sites, has been transformed into a glamorous beach resort where rooms at La Valise Tulum will set you back over £300.
Wealthy travellers may be shaping the holiday landscape but there are still some surprisingly affordable pockets of Europe that have resisted. The Dordogne, for instance, has some lovely family-owned chateau hotels that don't cost the earth. Rooms at four star hotel L'Abbaye in sleepy Saint-Cyprien start at around £120 and from there you can tour the region's many historic castles where entry costs around £10. Drop by any of Périgord's heavenly villages and you can still enjoy a three-course menu du jour for around £14.
But if you're still feeling down about the affordability of your next trip abroad, just remember: the super rich feed on exclusivity. So perhaps they'll grow tired of colonising the entire world and retreat back to their more familiar habitats – allowing the rest of us to rediscover favourite haunts we assumed were beyond our reach.
