They’ve got cash and time to spare, plus a taste for the finer things in life. These high-end travellers are increasingly taking a break from making money and instead are spending it on luxury getaways.
But not before doing their research which is why they turn to niche magazines such as Luxury Travel and Cruise Passenger, or online travel agency sites such as luxurydownunder.com.
They have enquiring minds, says David Hickie, the managing director of Gadfly Media which publishes Luxury Travel Magazine four times a year.
“[Our magazine] is the sort of publication that professionals who are interested in this sort thing look through, they keep it around on the coffee table. We have endless demand for back issues, they obviously have a look at it, discuss it with their husband or wife and pick out places they might want to go in six months or 12 months’ time as they’re planning annual holidays,” Hickie says.
Luxury Travel features travel options in Australia including indulgent weekend escapes, regular travel features on international cities, travel news and celebrity travel features.
“It is distributed and placed in all the suites and business rooms of a lot of the top-end hotels,” Hickie says. “It’s placed in a lot of the business class lounges and frequent flyer lounges of the key airlines and in a lot of the rooms in all the upmarket resorts, so we specifically do deals where we sell bulk copies to those places.”
Edge Partners MD Craig Hodges says travel agents are keen to have his company’s quarterly publication Cruise Passenger, which has recorded subscription growth of 200% for the year.
“We’re finding that travel agents will be giving this to premium clients. It makes good business sense for them and that’s worked very well in driving those ridiculous subscription numbers up,” Hodges says.
“The cruising market is the fastest growing segment and the luxury cruising market is growing extremely quickly with a number of new ships, ”he adds.
This is because, “there’s more income at that top end of the market, people have also got a little bit more time, and there’s more options available to them”.
Also, higher yields are encouraging travel agents to book more clients on cruises, Hodges says.
“These people travel three times a year, one of which is a cruise, so they’re very active travellers.”
Their average age is 44 and the majority are couples, he says.
Other titles that cater to the market are FPC’s Vogue Entertaining + Travel, with 163,000 readers, 40% of whom are ABs, and ACP’s Australian Gourmet Traveller, with a readership of 312,000, and almost 60% of them earning more than $60,000 a year.
“Each medium has a different role to play in providing various layers to an information hungry consumer,” says ACP Publishing food, home, travel, wine publisher Marijcke Thomson.
“The magazine role is the most delicious as we put the meat on the bones, provide the details and tips that make the experience special for each individual. The role of Australian Gourmet Traveller is that of opening secret doors and providing insider knowledge. This information is available to us through the special relationships we have with individuals and suppliers in this market and the raft of extraordinary writing talent we have access to.”
Hickie says this top end of the market fared better than others during the recent tourism slump.
“Certainly the whole travel market has been through a difficult half-a-dozen years in terms of the SARS outbreak through Asia, the whole terrorism thing after 9/11,” Hickie says. “And just before that there was the collapse of Ansett.”
“But as far as the actual luxury travel market, there is and has been a continuing strong demand for something that tells you what is the latest in things like luxury spas, luxury golf holidays, [or] luxury skiing holidays.”
Luxurydownunder.com general manager Dan Russell says product growth has boosted the sector. Greater supply—such as new resorts, hotels and cruise ships—has stimulated and then sated demand.
Hickie says it’s a choice demographic for advertisers.
“It’s all about long-term relationships with advertisers,” he says, “and so certainly there are people who are now looking to have longer-term relationships with publications that they think can target very specifically the sorts of people they are trying to reach.”
He adds that it is more important in luxury travel media, than regular travel media, to closely follow market trends. Skiing and adventure holidays are two very popular areas at present.
“And similarly, those sorts of experiences where you pay quite a lot of money to go on environmental ecological adventure-style trips but in comfort and not with lots of people and probably exclusively catered for,” Hickie adds.
Thomson agrees, saying the days of standard holiday offerings are over.
“The days of travelling to a destination to lie on the beach and soak up the sun are gone. People want adventure; from cycling, to walking, to climbing; plus great local experiences, from the markets to the best plates in town. And they want [to experience] indigenous culture [where they] learn the local dance. Learning how to cook the local food is much more interesting than just consuming it.”
And she believes luxury travellers are more active in their approach to relaxation.
“Travellers on this side of the world are looking for exploration and relaxation. The beach holiday has been replaced with the spa, yoga, massage—treatments from head to toe. The big day on the trek is followed by a spa and a delicious meal with excellent local wines.”
