4 Shaping the Future of Luxury Travel | Future Traveller Tribes 2030
Executive summary
We have entered a new era of luxury travel. As newly affluent citizens pop up in different regions of the world, and the travel industry expands to meet their demands, how can travel brands cater for more luxury customers while somehow maintaining a sense of exclusivity? As emergent middle classes seek the material aspect of luxury travel, more mature markets are craving a new, evolved kind of luxury. This is why offering luxury customers a relevant, personal and exclusive experience will become even more crucial than it is today – it will be a differentiating factor between old and new luxury.
The Traveller Tribes
Amadeus’s recent report Future Traveller Tribes 2030: Understanding Tomorrow’s Traveller highlights the importance of approaching travellers based on their behaviours rather than their age, gender or cabin class, and recognising that their purchasing patterns will change depending on the circumstances of their trip. This paper will focus on the behaviours of Reward Hunters , Simplicity Searchers and Obligation Meeters , who are of key interest to the luxury sector, and are present in every regional market of luxury travellers. It will further segment these three groups into Luxury Traveller Tribes – types of luxury travellers who can be identified by their general travel patterns. However, these tribes should be viewed as general guidelines to understanding next-generation luxury travellers – the new era of luxury travel demands that the travel industry understands these travellers on a personal level . Luxury travel is subjective . For one traveller, it could be a private multimillion-dollar cruise around the Arctic on a famous yacht. For another, it could be the reassurance of having their dietary requirements automatically catered for throughout their entire holiday and a bespoke designer wardrobe waiting for them in their hotel room – without them having to ask. For some, it could be having their favourite Michelin-starred chef flown in to prepare a meal in a Bedouin tent in the middle of the Sahara. Curating something that appeals to them on a specific, personal level that goes above a traveller’s “norms” is key to the next chapter of luxury travel. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a psychological theory about human motivation – it shows five “needs” that as humans we feel motivated to achieve. Presented in hierarchical levels, when one level of needs is fulfilled, we begin to pursue the level above. The same theory can be applied to the luxury travel experience. The more accustomed a traveller, or a regional market of travellers, is to luxury, the higher they will need to travel up the pyramid for their expectations to be met – and for their idea of luxury to be fulfilled.
Reward Hunters Reward Hunters focus on self-indulgent travel that will often mix a focus on luxury with self‑improvement and personal health.
Simplicity Searchers Simplicity Searchers value ease and transparency in their travel planning and holidaymaking above all else, and are willing to outsource their decision-making to trusted parties to avoid having to go through extensive research themselves. The seeking of ‘reward’ for hard work in other areas of their life is what motivates them. They are looking for luxury experiences that are several notches above the everyday.
Obligation Meeters Obligation Meeters have their travel choices restricted by the need to meet some bounded objective. In addition to business travel
commitments, these obligations can include personal obligations such as religious festivals, weddings and family gatherings. Business travellers are the most significant micro-group of many falling within this camp. Although they will arrange or improvise other activities around their primary purpose, their core needs and behaviours mainly are shaped by their need to be in a certain place, at a certain time, without fail. The other three Traveller Tribes are Ethical Travellers, Cultural Purists and Social Capital Seekers, but do not tend to necessarily display obvious luxury behaviours.
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