It’s one thing to be rich and to be able to travel the world. Apparently, if global travel trend forecasting companies are to be believed, even within elite circles, traveling patterns widely differ. I mean, look at the crazy rich characters of The White Lotus.
Globetrender, the UK’s leading travel trend forecasting agency, created a proprietary “Luxury Traveller Journey Scale,” to better understand how the newly minted high-net-worths and the old money ultrahigh-net-worths go about their globetrotting. The takeaway? Those with new money to spend are eager to tick off bucket list locations, while the 0.1 percenters would rather go somewhere new having traveled the world twice over, if not more.
That’s just to say, traveling has changed for the wealthy. Gone are the days of first-class flights and five-star hotels. In its place are curated itineraries, obscure locales, and exclusive experiences. But just the same, at the core of these travel trends are primal desires, which may differ from us, mere mortals, but are just as relatable. But there are levels to this; wealth equals access and that’s where the new BDO Visa Signature comes in.
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If you’re looking to up your travel experience this year, here are a few trends fueling luxury travel for the rich and how that can help you structure your own plans this 2025 — wherever possible.
Private Jet Travel is on the Rise
True luxury for the ultrarich is having time. Why queue at the airport gates when you can fly in your own time and skip all that waiting? It is still in line with the well-offs’ need to reclaim their time and make every single experience leading up to and during their time at their destination seamless. This is also how they manage to go to locations where commercial flights may be too much of a hassle if it exists at all.
Travel Like a Roy in ‘Succession’
Newer trending locations are emerging thanks in large part to being featured in television shows, documentaries, and films. Pop culture that portrays how the ultrarich live their lives — Succession, The White Lotus — are dictating where real-life rich people are going, says Virtuoso. But as those are likely to draw crowds depending on accessibility, the more obscure the destination is, all the better for the very select few.
‘Cool-cations’ to Escape Hellish Heat
With drastic increases in global temperatures, the rich are looking for summer destinations that will shield them from punishing the heat. These include seasonal locations like the north Europe and even the Arctic for those who have the means to go there.
Luxury travel has evolved from just highlighting the ordinary — or rather what has become ordinary is a relentless quest for newness — to searching for places of comfort and ease that money can buy. In this sense, the very concept of luxury reinforces itself as a search for the exceptional for the well-appointed life.
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