Moving Beyond High-End Transformative Travel

What does the word luxury mean to you? For many people it corresponds to excess. After all, if money is no object then there are no limits to what it can buy.

Recently, however, we have seen plenty of pushback on this idea, much of which has been featured in this newsletter. It came up again at the recent International Luxury Travel Market conference in Cannes in December.

Skift’s Deanna Ting found plenty of enthusiasm for “conscious” travel, something of an antidote to the excess for which the industry has been known.

“We try really hard not to use the word ‘luxury,’” said Neil Jacobs, CEO of Six Senses. “It’s evolving into something that has a certain connotation around it that doesn’t sit so well with us. There’s this connotation of excess. I don’t want to be about excess. I want us to be about community and connectivity. I want less to be more.”

This is what a new generation of luxury travelers wants and it seems companies are reacting to the demand.

For feedback or news tips, reach out via email at pw@skift.com or tweet me @paddywhyte.

— Patrick Whyte, Europe Editor

5 Looks at Luxury

‘Conscious’ Travel Emerging as Yet Another Hot Luxury Trend: Do compassion and social consciousness go hand in hand with luxury travel? That’s what some luxury travel executives are seeing — and hoping for.

Luxury Italian Brands Fashion Travel Experiences: What does it take to bring more high-end travelers to your destination? Offer them more high-end experiences. That’s the aim of two new projects stemming from Italy’s luxury goods industry.

Google Starts Piloting Voice Products for Airlines and Hotels: Google’s voice-powered assistant now lets you check in for United flights. Nice. The tech giant is also working with Hyatt and other hotels on testing a translation device at front desks. The early word is that the translations need to improve.

Peru’s Challenge to Build Tourism Outside the Shadows of Machu Picchu: Peru has done a lot in terms of diversifying its tourism industry, but a stronger emphasis on a unified vision for tourism is still needed. If governments don’t start prioritizing tourism — which has far-reaching impacts on other industries, the environment, and the lives of locals — we’re going to lose critical parts of history that help explain who we are and how we got here.

Skift Call Jan. 16: Why Travel Needs to Shake Off the Gloom in 2019: You’re hearing a lot of doomsday forecasts for 2019. Global recession. Stock market rout. Runaway inflation. We’re here to give you the flip side for how travel this year could be just fine. Listen to our experts on Wednesday, January 16 at 1 p.m. EST on a Skift Call. Please join us for this all-important discussion.

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