In our new Premium Travel Barometer we analyse the luxury travel segment, identifying the various trends and opportunities arising from it.
For Ángel García Butragueño, Director of BRAINTRUST "The luxury market is one of the most coveted by companies, both for its purchasing power and its potential to generate and anticipate different trends. Analysing and understanding what inspires and moves them when they travel, how they consume tourism and leisure products and into which segments this public can be divided allows us to continue helping companies to successfully approach these demanding and exclusive profiles, as desired by companies".
The study, which has divided this customer profile between the Luxury segment (which includes Spaniards with an income of more than €100,000) and Premium (Spaniards in the high or very high classes), shows that this sector has the highest travel consumption forecast index, with the CPVOPI standing at 75.7 for Luxury profiles and 71.2 for Premium profiles.
On average, Luxury travellers spend €3,124 on their trips compared to the €1,062 budget of the Premium segment, mainly during the summer months (mainly August), although there are other months such as October and December, which have high volumes, breaking the expected seasonality.
Europe, the destination of choice for luxury travellers
Interest in seeing a new place is the main reason why Premiums start thinking about a certain destination for their holidays, followed by the recommendation of friends or relatives.
For the next 2 years, luxury travellers prefer Europe as a destination (Luxury travellers plan to visit 2.5 European destinations during this period and Premium travellers 1.8). Italy will be the most visited country by luxury clients (33% and 24% respectively) followed by France (26% and 23%) and Germany for Luxury (19%) and Portugal for Premium (20%).
Within Spain (Premium travellers say they will visit 1.8 national destinations and Luxury travellers 1.2 destinations) Extremadura , with 18%, is the region where Luxury travellers most intend to go, while Premium travellers opt for Andalusia in 22% of cases.
America seems to be of less interest to them as a destination (with 0.7 Luxury and 0.5 Premium travellers visiting) as well as the rest of the destinations.
Luxury travellers buy early and on mobile phones
Top travellers book their trips well in advance, although Luxury travellers are the most cautious with 2.8 months in advance on average, followed by Premium travellers who book their trips on average 2.5 months in advance.
When it comes to travel information, destination websites are the most used by travellers (64% in the Luxury segment and 54% in the Premium segment), followed by travel guides in the case of Luxury (47%) and recommendations from friends and family in the case of Premium (54%).
Taking into account what they used to book their last trips, Luxury travellers are the segment that most use the mediated channel to book their trips, with a high use of traditional agencies. Among Premium travellers, younger travellers are the most likely to use this type of channel, although their use is almost exclusively online.
Although single services are the most commonly used travel format, organised or dynamic packages are more popular among the Luxury segment.
Mobile, a very important channel for the luxury sector
The use of mobile phones during the travel search process is a fact: reading experiences and recommendations from other travellers are the most common uses of this device, mainly in the case of Premium travellers.
When it comes to booking, it is Luxury users who are the most daring, with 58% using it to book accommodation, 40% using it to book transport and 33% using it to book activities at their destination.
