The Evolving Landscape Of Luxury Tourism - Anupama S. Kotur, PhD

Offline is the new luxury, a documentary aired in 2016, interestingly, conveys volumes about the fast changing perception about luxury among individuals. For centuries, people have aspired to own rare, expensive goods and experience luxurious vacations. But what is intriguing about luxury is the fact that interpretation of luxury is unique for every individual.

With every shift in cultural landscape, societal values and economic advancements, luxury has acquired a new meaning. Today, luxury is seen more as a holistic experience rather transactional. Luxury travel is one of the fast growing and upcoming areas within the tourism and hospitality industry. One of the market research reports estimates that the luxury travel market is expected to reach $ 1,614.4 billion by 2026. In our extensively researched book ‘The Emerald Handbook of Luxury Management for Hospitality and Tourism’, we present detailed and insightful discussions on the latest and greatest in luxury tourism and hospitality industry. We bring together essays and articles from luxury experts and academicians around the world.

The book also consists of discussions about Covid induced changes in luxury tourism market and focus areas in its recovery. The sections below give an overview of the changes in luxury tourism and luxury marketing.

How has Luxury tourism and Hospitality evolved over the years?

Luxury tourism, in the early ages was largely seen as a prerogative of the royalty, affluent and elite where travellers surrounded themselves with material comforts and extravagant indulgences while globe-trotting. However, in the recent times, a more holistic idea of luxury is taking shape where emphasis is on while status and associated experiential value and personal fulfilment. This phenomena is usually referred to as the ‘new world’, ‘post modernistic’ or ‘individualistic’ luxury. Tourists, today, seek luxury beyond materialism, and therefore, invest in intangibles and experiences of time, space, authenticity, community individuality and well-being. These tourism experiences allow them to boost their social and cultural capital and create a sense of fulfilment.

Tourists, today, seek luxury beyond materialism, and therefore, invest in intangibles and experiences of time, space, authenticity, community individuality and well-being.

Manifestation of ‘New World Luxury’ in Tourism and Hospitality

a. Green Luxury – Also sometimes referred to as sustainable luxury, balanced luxury, deeper luxury or intelligent luxury where luxury tourists seek to associate with luxury brands focussing on sustainable and ethical practices.

b. Minimalistic Luxury - Minimalistic luxury tourism marks a shift from ‘eco- conspicuous’ consumption to a more ‘eco-conscious’ consumption. Some of the notable hotel brands have embraced this trend to create hotel spaces with fresh and minimal designs while maintaining an elevated aesthetics of luxury. The ‘minimalist aesthetic’, or what is also known as ‘purposeful limitation’ approach to luxury, has become popular even in culinary circles where restaurants adopt minimalist décor and menu to convey a sense of exclusivity and luxury.

c. Accessible luxury / Masstige Brands – Some also referred to as affordable luxury, where brands offer a more premiumised offering, making luxury travel more ‘democratised’. Masstige hotel brands are usually priced marginally lower than the traditional luxury brands but higher than the mid-priced hotel brands. A number of traditional luxury hotel brands have experimented with their masstige brand extensions to cater to this growing tourist segment.

d. Ethical Luxury – This is growing trend among millennial and Gen Z travellers. A number of researches have indicated that millennial luxury consumers avoid engaging with brands that lack ethics and integrity.

Luxury Marketing in tourism and Hospitality

The business of luxury tourism is unlike any other. Luxury consumer behaviour is evolving with passage of time and so are their tastes and preferences. The recent global COVID-19 crisis and its aftermath has forced luxury travellers to re-examine their priorities and attitudes towards luxury travel. Luxury marketers will have to unlearn the classical marketing principles and approach luxury tourism marketing from different perspectives.

“We live a hyper digitised, hyper-connected and hyper viralized age and luxury brands are often faced with predicaments to find the right balance between exclusivity and ubiquity.”

Marketing communication over the years transformed the luxury brands' storytelling in order to create a deeper and more meaningful engagement with the next generation of luxury travellers through social media networks. We live a hyper digitised, hyper-connected and hyper viralized age and luxury brands are often faced with predicaments to find the right balance between exclusivity and ubiquity. For status and prestige seeking tourists, social media networks have created a window to showcase their luxury travel experiences. At the same time, there is a small but growing section of luxury tourists who seek to digitally isolate themselves. Digital or more specifically, social media privacy is increasingly being deemed as a luxury where tourists prefer to deliberately stay offline and refrain from posting about their luxury vacations in order to accentuate the feeling of exclusivity.

Owing to these significant developments, luxury consumption patterns are altering, if only temporality, forcing luxury tourism marketers to pivot and redesign tourist experiences in order to re-start tourism. Therefore, it is recommended that luxury tourism marketing must highlight the richness of travel experiences using the right marketing channels that can effectively deliver emotions and complex messages to create a lasting brand image.

About the Author

Anupama S. Kotur (Kaddi), PhD, is an Assistant Professor at the Symbiosis Centre for Management Studies, Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune. She is an expert in E and Mobile learning for travel and tourism professionals with an experience of working with several global leisure and tourism brands. With over 16 years of experience in travel, tourism and hospitality industries,

Anupama, has also developed and delivered a number of training programs for luxury tourism and cruise line brands. Her recent publication is the Emerald Handbook of Luxury Management for Hospitality and Tourism (January, 2022). Her interests include Wine Tourism, Luxury Tourism and Destination Imagery studies.

Anupama can be contacted at anukotur@gmail.com.