• LUXURY TRAVEL
thinking that has useful precedents. New Zealand’s Tiaki Promise builds guardianship of land, sea, culture and communities into the visitor contract, while Italy’s Albergo Diffuso model allows guests to live within historic towns while supporting local commerce and preservation. The same logic is pushing sustainability towards regeneration: visible benefit and participation rather than a generic green claim. Bhutan has long treated values as tourism policy. Its “High Value, Low Volume” model is tied to Gross National Happiness, cultural preservation and environmental stewardship. Its Sustainable Development Fee, currently $100 per person per night for most international visitors, funds infrastructure, sustainability, cultural preservation, healthcare and education. The Middle East has powerful material to work with. Saudi Tourism Authority’s Hafawah programme trains tourism professionals to deliver hospitality rooted in Saudi culture – generosity, welcome and care. In AlUla, local rawi storytellers are central to how visitors experience heritage, place and memory. This also aligns with a renewed emphasis on place-led identity where luxury that feels of its destination, expressed through architecture, materials, gastronomy, storytelling and cultural reference rather than trend-led design. The region has an opportunity to translate hospitality, faith, craftsmanship, community and the rituals of welcome into experiences with the same pull as the view.
THE TAKEAWAY: SELL THE AFTERGLOW The luxury traveller of 2026 is still spending, still ambitious and still hungry for beauty. The decision now turns on emotional return: will this trip move me, teach me, connect me, reset me or give me a story nobody else has? The strongest luxury products will be edited around feeling, ease and depth rather than volume or display. The room matters. The view matters. The service matters. The afterglow matters most.
Values-lead tourism picks up in Norway
116 | ATM YEARBOOK 2026
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