From thousands of drone, underwater and coastal images submitted by the world’s best ocean photographers, Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023 has announced the overall and the different category winners of its prestigious awards.
02.09.2023 - 23:17 / forbes.com
UHNWIs are spending extravagantly on travel; and high-end tour operators are seeing an unprecedented rise in trips with price tags of $100,000 or more.
Travel has proven to be a post-pandemic priority for many, and the luxury sector in particular continues to see unprecedented growth thanks to spend from the ultra-wealthy.
Exclusive tour operator cazenove+loyd has seen a 50% increase in trip with price tags of six-figures or more in the last year. With a boutique ethos and a coterie of small, local suppliers to hand, the company’s typically six-figure booking is for four to five people. One recent examples include a booking for a round-the-world trip for a family of four, including stops in Latin America and Asia, which costs $300,000. (The trip will see the family ‘living’ in some places such as New Zealand where cazenove+loyd has arranged private home for a few weeks, while in other places, like Indonesia, the family will be fully traveling.)
While cazenove+loyd has seen bookings double, it only accounts for 10% of the total trips they curate. London-based Untold Story Travel, also cite a 50% year-on increase in six-figure bookings; however, for this ultra-luxe operator this means up to 40% of their bookings are now six-figure trips: “Generally, these are trips that clients will undertake at least twice a year, and tend to be family or extended family trips… between two to eight guests,” says Chris Brunning, Untold Story Travel’s Co-Founder and MD. “They are not necessarily one-off events but often they mark a family milestone such as an anniversary, birthday or graduation.” Brunning notes a trend for going off the beaten track, and some of the most impressive Untold Story itinerary includes a very wild jaunt to Costa Rica ($126,000 for two people) and a mega-trip to Tahiti on an island designed by co-founder of Cirque du Soleil ($1,265,0000 for up to 32 people). “Clients are choosing more adventurous destinations like Latin America, South East Asia and Africa where a six-figure booking tends to yield something truly extraordinary,” says Brunning.
It’s not only the adventurous destinations that are drawing in big spenders. “The type of six-figure bookings that we are making is the main increase, as we are seeing a wider variety of trips being in demand.” says Henry Morley, Founder and CEO of True Travel, a tour operator for which around 15% of bookings are above six figures. “We service around five six-figure bookings each year, mainly in Africa and Asia; however, an interesting thing to note is that post-pandemic, we serviced a number of six-figure itineraries in Europe also,” says Morley.
Cartology Travel is booking an impressive 30 or more six-figure trips a year, accounting for 20% of all
From thousands of drone, underwater and coastal images submitted by the world’s best ocean photographers, Ocean Photographer of the Year 2023 has announced the overall and the different category winners of its prestigious awards.
The 25th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) is scheduled for October 16-20 this year in Samarkand. For the first time in history, Uzbekistan will host this important biennial gathering of member states and affiliate members of UNWTO.
As the summer travel season comes to a close, one airline is giving travelers a reason to start planning next summer's vacation. Delta Air Lines announced it will be operating its largest trans-Atlantic flight schedule ever, debuting just in time for summer 2024. The airline will be adding new destinations including Naples and bringing back service to Shannon, Ireland. According to Delta, next summer it will operate 260 weekly flights to 18 countries in Europe, Africa, and the Middle East from New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK). This includes a new flight from JFK to Munich three times a week that will start on April 9, 2024, and a daily nonstop flight to Shannon, Ireland that will begin on May 23, 2024. The carrier will expand its existing service to Italy — it already flies to Milan, Venice, and Rome — with a new daily service to Naples. It will also resume service between Atlanta and Zurich, Switzerland, four times a week, which had originally been cut in 2019.
Consider it the year of Italy for IHG Hotels & Resorts.
The landowners of a volcano that erupted in 2019, killing 22 people and injuring 25 others, have rejected arguments from workplace safety regulators that they bear legal responsibility for visitors' safety.
THIS ARTICLE IS ADAPTED FROM THE SEPTEMBER 17, 2023 EDITION OF GASTRO OBSCURA’S FAVORITE THINGS NEWSLETTER. YOU CAN SIGN UP HERE .
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