Scott Dunn Asia’s general manager Mike Harlow spots new travel desires among the rich – and above all, he observes that luxury travel trends are presenting more opportunities for the industry to support the host community
Scott Dunn’s 2025 Luxury Travel Trend Report identifies some interesting trends. Which excite you most, especially when considering the Asia-Pacific traveller profile?
One is eclipse chasing, where travellers venture to remote corners of the world to witness celestial spectacles. We have some big itineraries for Greenland over the August 12 period when the eclipse will be happening. Eclipse chasers will camp around Greenland and spend time in the destination before taking cruises into the High Arctic, to Svalbad, Norway.
This has given us an exciting opportunity to design itineraries around eclipse chasing. It is not just Greenland, Iceland and the High Arctic where one can catch the eclipse; the northern parts of Spain and Portugal are likely to see it too, so we’re working on some itineraries around that area for the same period.
Another hot trend is the growing number of guests who are willing to travel outside the peak periods. With climate change, we are seeing that shoulder seasons and even low seasons are proving to be a valuable time for travel, from a weather perspective. Obviously, travellers can make the most of the better value and lower costs when travelling (during shoulder and low seasons), but this trend also corresponds with our luxury guests not wanting to feel that they are contributing to overtourism.
As a result, Scandinavia countries (usually associated with winter travel) are becoming really popular during the summer. Finland, Norway, and Iceland have all picked up for summer travel.
We are also seeing greater interest in all-inclusive options. The luxury travel sector isn’t as largely affected by inflation and economic pressures on cost of living as other parts of the market, but there is still a strong demand for travel value. Families heading to resorts prefer all-inclusive options. They can enjoy the resort and not have to worry about how their children are getting and paying for their drinks and food.
We have seen a 24 per cent increase in all-inclusive travel bookings from the Asian market, comparing July 2022 to June 2023 with July 2023 to June 2024.
In fact, this all-inclusive preference lends to the increasing interest in cruising. We recently launched a Journeys by Land & Sea offering, which combines highly designed land itineraries with some of the best-in-class cruising and yacht options.
Another trend we are seeing is people wanting to go away for longer, slower travel and spending more time in destinations.
There are not many all-inclusive options within our region, so does that mean luxury travellers here wanting this option would have to holiday more in the West?
Yeah. I think that’s fair to say. Well, the resorts in the Maldives do, but the all-inclusive concept is generally more of a European offering. Travellers here wanting an all-inclusive holiday could go to Europe, or the Maldives, or get on a cruise. Greece has good all-inclusive offerings.
Your report also highlighted the strong appeal of China as a destination. Why has attention shifted to China?
Bookings for China are up from Singapore and from across our group. Based on Scott Dunn’s global data, bookings for China travel increased by 400 per cent between 2023 and 2024. This is a comparison between bookings from July 2022 to June 2023 with July 2023 to June 2024.
I think the strong attention on China is driven partly by the fact that Japan is so busy and popular. People have either been to Japan and want to do something else or have struggled to get the availability they want in Japan and South Korea.
For the Singapore traveller market, that interest may be due to ancestry – some guests (of the Chinese race) are wanting to go back to regions where their families were from and to immerse in the history and culture.
There was also a lot of tourism infrastructure development and investment in different parts of China over the pandemic period, especially in Yunnan and Sichuan provinces, and in particular the rise of luxury hotels. That has an impact on tourism and we are seeing people going into these regions as well as the usual Beijing and Shanghai.
Where else in China is Scott Dunn researching to ensure the well-travelled customer has somewhere fresh and not-so-commercialised to brag about?
We have just started to map China out properly. We’re seeing things in Chengdu that we want to explore, and there are parts of Yunnan’s Tibetan Plateau that we are looking to expand (our itineraries) into. We are still in the early stages. We see China as a big opportunity.
Travellers want to get off the beaten track to discover lesser known destinations. Does the world have enough hidden gems, and does it matter to luxury travellers if the tourism infrastructure isn’t so well developed but the sights are incredible?
I do think there are lots of hidden gems around the world. However, I see it this way – there is a younger demographic of luxury travellers coming through now, they are aspirational and interested in destinations like Laos and Cambodia, which the travel and tourism industry no longer regards as off-the-beaten-track.
To your question about destination infrastructure, luxury travellers are fine as long as they know there is security behind them, the programme is well organised, they are staying somewhere comfortable and of a certain quality, and they have good guides on the ground to give them the experiences they want.
Our travellers are not concerned about going to destinations that are remote.
You’ve raised an interesting observation about the young and aspiring luxury travellers and those with old money. Do you mean that the young and aspiring ones tend to go for familiar destinations whereas the rich and well-travelled are more explorative?
That’s broadly right. We are seeing the well-travelled older generations spending more time in destinations, and taking things slower. They are taking river cruises and ocean cruises. Train journeys are becoming popular again, so we’re seeing demand pick up (among this traveller segment) for Belmond predominantly in Europe and a little bit in South Africa.
We have just signed on with the Golden Eagle Luxury Trains that go across China, and are looking to do more of the Silk Road over the year ahead.
Young and aspirational travellers are a bit more of a typical traveller. They have short periods of time that they can go away for, and would cram as much in as possible. They are also that Instagram generation, so they like staying in places with rooftop pools, dining at The World’s 50 Best Restaurants – all to be seen travelling well.
Let’s talk about meaningful travel – how can travel designers ensure programmes are truly meaningful to the host community and the explorers, and not exploitive of locals?
That’s a great point. Organically, we are seeing that luxury travel is moving away from high tourist destinations.
We’ve just employed somebody to look at our overall sustainability strategy. Our focus is on understanding the impact our guests and therefore what we do have on the local communities. In line with that, we’ve just started to identify some global partners that we want to work with on our sustainability push, where we can positively and meaningfully support the communities of places where our travellers are visiting.
The great thing about tourism is that it can be such a huge economic driver. We are making sure (that our itineraries) contribute to local communities (that need more tourism earnings) by keeping guides and drivers busy so that they have work and can invest back into lifting their communities up economically.
At what point would you say that a hidden gem is no longer hidden?
Probably once the destination starts getting cruise liners with 10,000 people coming off?
The definition can be quite a personal thing. There are a lot of islands around South-east Asia that are relatively remote and are considered hidden gems for every generation of travellers that visits.
Perhaps hidden gems could be defined by the balance of tourism. Once big crowds set in and the authenticity of the destination evolves, then it is no longer a hidden gem.
However, changes caused by tourism is not always a bad thing. Asia is not the same as it was 10 years ago, but as it evolves it grows while still offering plenty of hidden gems.
As a luxury travel specialist who must have experienced so much, where in the world stokes your interest today?
I’ve got a young family now, so our ability to go far and off the beaten track is somewhat limited. We enjoy our beach resort holidays, as it gives us a real chance to spend some quality time together. We are big fans of Krabi in Thailand, and are off to Soneva Fushi and Soneva Jani in the Maldives in May. We are also going to New Zealand for a couple of weeks.
I’m very keen to climb Mount Kinabalu (in Malaysia) and hope to do that with a friend. I’m also keen to experience China at some point this year. I intend to stay put in Asia-Pacific this year.
Well, there are a lot of places in our region for us to play.
Absolutely, you don’t need to go far.
