Last month’s Virtuoso Travel Week marked the 30th anniversary of the conference and set a record for attendance, with more than 6,000 travel professionals gathering at Bellagio Hotel and Casino, Aria Resort & Casino and Vdara Hotel & Spa in Las Vegas.
According to Virtuoso member surveys and sales data revealed at the event, luxury travel should see a double-digit increase this year, with even more sales projected for 2019. Additionally, adventure was identified in surveys as a key part of this growth.
Of course, the importance of adventure travel should not be surprising to anyone — it has been a top-five trend in Virtuoso’s annual survey for a while now. This year, it jumped to No. 2 (behind multigenerational travel), but the more interesting observation is that, regardless of the type of vacation taken, an increasing amount of luxury trips are incorporating adventure travel experiences. So, more than ever before, luxury travel is merging with adventure travel. Whether a client books a luxury cruise or a five-star resort, they will most likely add active experiences into their vacation plans.
Sure, some travelers still want to do nothing but lounge next to the pool, but those clients are becoming rare — it’s the reason so many resorts now offer excursions such as accompanying the head chef to the farmers market, taking a local bike tour and many other experiential options.
The ability of a travel advisor to match a client to an ideal and exclusive experience is rapidly becoming the very definition of luxury. At the opening session of Travel Week, Matthew Upchurch, CEO of Virtuoso, laid out his view of the luxury travel advisor’s mission: to “bring together the many people who satisfy the growing craving for authentic human connection and experiences.”
According to Upchurch and others, in our complicated, hectic, stressed-out world, the ability to slow down and truly soak in a meaningful experience — whether that’s challenging yourself with something active, enjoying nature, learning or perfecting a skill or connecting with others in a distant community — is the epitome of luxury.