Luxury travel is growing at an extraordinary pace: sales are projected to rise 20.8% in 2026

Premium spending is shifting decisively towards experiences

While several categories within personal luxury goods are experiencing a period of moderate growth, high-end travel is moving in a very different direction. The latest data from Virtuoso, one of the world’s leading luxury travel networks, projects that its sales will increase by approximately 20.8% year on year in 2026, positioning travel and experiences among the strongest growth engines in today’s premium economy. What makes this particularly relevant is that the increase cannot be explained by inflation or higher prices alone. Affluent clients are travelling more frequently, staying longer and increasingly selecting higher-value products and services.

Hotels are leading this expansion, with sales projected to increase by approximately 24.5%, while cruises are growing by 22.4%, destination management companies and local experience partners by 17.5%, and tours by around 11%. These figures reveal something fundamental about today’s luxury consumer: affluent travellers remain prepared to spend extraordinary amounts when the proposition combines exceptional service, privileged access, privacy, time and an experience that cannot easily be replicated elsewhere.

Nearly $2,000 per night is becoming a new benchmark

One of the clearest indicators of this transformation is the evolution of hotel rates. The average daily rate across Virtuoso’s preferred hotel portfolio reached approximately $1,983 per night in June 2026, compared with around $1,632 in January. June’s figure was also approximately 11.2% higher than a year earlier.

But an even more revealing figure lies at the very top of the market: hotel bookings priced above $1,500 per night are growing by approximately 37%, more than twice the pace of lower-priced accommodation. This is an exceptionally important signal for the industry. The wealthiest consumers do not appear to be reducing their travel expenditure. Instead, they are concentrating a greater share of it on products and experiences positioned at the very top of the luxury pyramid.

This trend particularly benefits low-density resorts, private villas, exceptional boutique hotels, suites, wilderness lodges, yachts, ultra-luxury cruises and properties capable of delivering extremely high levels of privacy and personalisation.

The real product is no longer the hotel room

This transformation also requires the hospitality industry to reconsider what a luxury hotel actually sells. An extraordinary suite remains important, but increasingly it is not enough on its own to justify rates of several thousand dollars per night.

The guest is also purchasing private transportation, gastronomy, wellness, concierge expertise, cultural access, reserved experiences, local knowledge, privacy and, perhaps most importantly, the elimination of friction. Affluent travellers do not want to waste valuable time queuing, arranging transportation, securing restaurant reservations or solving logistical problems.

In this environment, the hotel’s true product increasingly becomes time. The more effectively a hospitality company can give guests greater control over their schedule and remove unnecessary tasks from their journey, the greater its ability to command a premium.

Wealthy travellers are staying longer

Another fundamental shift is the increasing duration of luxury trips. Part of Virtuoso’s growth is being driven by longer stays and the rise of what has become known as destination-maxxing: travellers combining several destinations within a single journey.

France and Italy, France and the United Kingdom, and Italy and Switzerland are among the increasingly popular combinations. An American traveller might spend three weeks in Europe moving between Paris, the French Riviera, Tuscany and Rome, combining five-star hotels, premium aviation, high-end rail, chauffeur-driven cars, Michelin-starred restaurants, luxury shopping and private cultural experiences.

The economic value of a single customer can therefore reach tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars during one journey. Luxury travel consequently becomes an ecosystem extending far beyond hospitality, incorporating fashion, jewellery, gastronomy, automotive, aviation, wellness, real estate and entertainment.

Luxury is moving from ownership towards access

The strength of premium travel also reveals a deeper cultural transformation. For certain affluent consumers, purchasing another handbag, watch or automobile may deliver less incremental satisfaction than gaining access to an extraordinary place, event or experience.

This does not mean luxury goods are losing their relevance. High jewellery, collectible watches and exceptional automobiles continue to demonstrate remarkable strength. However, a growing proportion of discretionary spending among wealthy consumers may increasingly move towards experiences capable of delivering memories, access, knowledge, wellbeing and valuable time shared with others.

As a result, hotels, resorts, cruise lines, private clubs and specialist travel operators are beginning to compete for spending that might previously have been allocated to fashion, accessories or other discretionary luxury goods.

Hospitality is becoming a much larger luxury ecosystem

This shift helps explain why hospitality is attracting growing attention from companies traditionally associated with other areas of luxury. Hotels are increasingly becoming platforms through which brands can interact with consumers for hours or even days rather than for the relatively short period of a conventional retail transaction.

Fashion houses are developing hotels and branded residences. Beauty brands are entering luxury spas. Champagne houses are creating dedicated spaces inside resorts. Automotive companies are building travel experiences for their most valuable clients. Luxury groups are increasingly exploring restaurants, private clubs, yachts, trains and residential projects.

The commercial logic is compelling. A customer spending several days within a carefully controlled brand environment provides something extremely valuable: time, attention and data. Those assets can support deeper relationships and potentially much greater lifetime customer value.

A major opportunity for the luxury industry towards 2030

Projected sales growth of 20.8% makes premium travel one of the markets that luxury groups, hospitality companies and investors should be watching particularly closely over the coming years. Branded residences, hotels, wellness resorts, private clubs, yachts, luxury trains and cruises could become some of the most important growth platforms within the luxury economy towards 2030.

The opportunity is not simply to build more expensive hotels. The strongest businesses will be those capable of designing ecosystems around highly specific customer needs: privacy, health, longevity, gastronomy, nature, culture, family, sport, learning or extraordinary access.

Luxury travel is therefore moving towards a model in which the room represents only one component of a much broader proposition.

The strategic conclusion is powerful: in the new luxury economy, controlling a greater share of the customer’s time may ultimately become more valuable than simply selling them another product.

Prepare to lead the new luxury economy

The rapid expansion of premium travel demonstrates how hospitality, experiences, consumer behaviour and new business models are reshaping the global luxury industry.

The MBA in Luxury Management at LUXONOMY University prepares professionals to understand and lead these transformations through specialised education in strategy, marketing, hospitality, retail, innovation, artificial intelligence and the international management of luxury brands.

Recognised as the leading online MBA in Luxury Management by U.S. News and delivered by an institution whose degrees are accredited through SACSCOC, the programme provides a global and forward-looking perspective on the opportunities emerging across the new luxury economy.

Discover the MBA in Luxury Management at LUXONOMY University