Luxury adventure ‘customer is changing’ as sector grows, says panel

The luxury adventure traveller is increasingly erring towards “intentional” and “authentic” experiences rather than “box-ticking”, according to panellists at Aspire’s Leaders of Luxury conference.

The director of the Association of Touring and Adventure Suppliers (Atas), Claire Brighton, said that consumers were shifting towards a “longer, slower way of travel”. 

Data from the Atas membership shows that in the last year customers have been extending their bookings to allow for better immersion, with 11-15 day trips growing by 2% to now represent 29% of the overall volume, and 16-20 day itineraries growing by 3% to comprise 13% of total bookings.

"The customer is changing,” she added. “Therefore brands need to change or potentially lose their customers.”

Brighton said that a number of the association’s members have launched a premium or luxury adventure range in recent years, including G Adventures which recently announced a partnership with National Geographic Signature to sell luxury tours. 

Speaking on the panel, Pudd Cranston, brand partnerships executive at G Adventures, said he had noticed a “shift in the market, particularly with high-net-worth travellers”. 

“The word luxury gets thrown around a lot to the point where it’s almost overused,” he said. “People are really seeking those experiences where you get access you can’t find otherwise – something that’s immersive and really feels authentic.”

His sentiments were supported by Deb Fox, chief sales officer at Abercrombie & Kent Travel Group, who agreed that travellers are putting more thought into where they are going and which suppliers they choose, saying that clients’ “mentality and psychographic profile is changing”. 

“Before, we’ve always had an adventure by day, luxury by night approach – that’s how we started 60 odd years ago,” she said. “But what that means is continuing to evolve, and the clients are no longer making a quick decision, ticking a box – it’s not just about where they’re going, but how they’re going to do it and who they’re going to do it with.”

She added: “We still have our traditional high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth customers, but they are getting younger – you couldn’t necessarily call them young, but they are getting younger.”

Megan Prichard, chief growth officer at space travel operator Virgin Galactic, said the brand was seeing demand from clients in their “late 20s or early 30s”, and that some travellers even want to make space travel “multi-generational”.

“People get the bug, and if they can afford to go multiple times and bring their families, they absolutely will,” she said.

Brighton said that the extension of the demographic interested in luxury adventure travel means that “the myth that adventure means basic, particularly in an accommodation sense”, is being “combatted”.

To keep up with demand for a luxury standard during adventure trips, Ryan Brown from Antarctica operator White Desert explained that the brand has introduced professional photographers to every trip to capture guests’ moments, and created the role of camp host to “increase the service delivery”.