Multi-Day Luxury Tours Bubble Set for China Boost

25.08.2023 - 14:20 / skift.com / Travel Experiences / Selene Brophy

Travelers are hungry for high-end experiences, and there appears to be no sign of the luxury bubble bursting anytime soon, with China still expected to add weight to the post-pandemic revenge travel surge.  

Luxury multi-day tour operators are surprised, and to a certain extent, overwhelmed by the continued wave of pent-up demand. Just this week, group travel for Chinese outbound travelers was approved for certain destinations from February 6. 

Joss Kent, CEO of AndBeyond, said the luxury travel company, well-known for its personalized safari offerings, “can barely keep up.”  

Since last February, “bookings have been 30 to 35 percent above pre-pandemic 2019 levels. We’ve just had our best first week in January in the history of the company,” Kent claimed.

“All of the growth we’ve seen in the luxury segment is without China. Australia’s only six months old. Asia’s also only just come online and the demand is surprising,” he added. Chinese tourists took 150 million trips overseas in 2019, while spending $255 billion.

Although Chinese travelers are only a small portion of the overall percentage of AndBeyond’s business, Kent said the segment is expected to “grow quite fast.”

Beth Sherer, Abercrombie & Kent (A&K) director of product development and operations, also expected to see a leveling out of the strong resurgence in luxury travel.

But this has not been the case. 

Guests have been planning ahead for bigger and more rewarding trips to celebrate missed and future milestones, often including extended family, she said. The company has since seen a 12 percent increase in group sizes and a 26 percent increase in future bookings that include five or more guests, as compared to 2019. 

“We are hearing from our guests that the pandemic has caused a greater shift in thinking about the value they place on travel and how they want to do it. Many feel they have lost two years and older clients are concerned about having fewer healthy years left to travel,” said Sherer.

While A&K does not specifically cater to the Chinese traveler, Sherer said they’ve been carefully watching government responses and any tightening restrictions towards Chinese travelers, as it can affect transiting passengers. 

On the flip side, Sherer said the return of the Chinese traveler may positively affect regional flight patterns and passenger load, particularly in locations such as Southeast Asia.

The slow rebound of domestic and regional air routings in destinations such as Australia, and South America is also a concern. But Sherer added that A&K’s network allows for the quick rerouting of journeys and flight delays to avoid cancellations and “preserve seamless experiences” for its guests.

One of the biggest challenges the company is