Luxury Revenues edge higher
D
ata on the luxury travel market is hard to come by so booking figures supplied by the frontline travel agent members of the Aspire Travel Club can
provide a valuable snapshot of the sector. The figures do not include every
high-end booking in the UK, but reflect the activity of a significant number of the country’s top-performing agents in the luxury market.
First-quarter bookings Bookings in the crucial first quarter of the year show the US as consistently the top-selling destination in terms of revenue among Aspire members over the past four years, with Spain a close second and other leading destinations ranked by booking revenue in January-March 2014 (see chart: Top-Booked Destinations in Q1 2014). The companion chart (Top-Booked Destinations in Q1 2011-14) shows the leading destinations ranked by cumulative bookings over the first quarters of the past four years. The comparison reveals the rise of the
UAE, which has increased its share steadily with the growth of the Gulf carriers and development of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
LUXURY TRAVEL DATA
The Aspire Travel Club launched in November 2010 to bring together suppliers and sellers of high-end travel. Anyone selling high-end travel may join, with sellers doing so as individuals. Members log high-end bookings on the Aspire site,
providing a snapshot of the market. The club had more than 2,300 members at the start of October 2014, with a combined high-end turnover of about £1.4 billion a year. *All figures in this section are for the period up to and including October 2014.
Demand for luxury travel escaped the post-2008 downturn that affected the economy as a whole. Aspire editor Rupert Murray considers some of the trends revealed by Aspire members’ bookings
A huge proportion of this growth is from
the twin-centre market. Mexico, Cyprus and, perhaps surprisingly, England have also seen growth – with the latter benefiting as agents tap into the domestic market. The charts suggest a relative decline for
the Maldives, Mauritius, Turkey and Egypt, which was among the top-five destinations in 2011 but has struggled to find its feet since. A look at first-quarter bookings by the
month of departure shows twin peaks for US departures in the spring and autumn while Spain stands alone as a year-round destination for high-end travellers (see chart: Destinations’ Share of Departures by Month). By contrast, Greece appears to have little market from the UK outside of the spring and summer. Hardly surprisingly, the UAE departures drop off in peak summer when temperatures surpass 40C.
Revenue earners Ranked by average revenue per booking over the past four years, Europe comes out clearly as the lowest region by sales value given the relative cost of flights (chart: Average Revenue per Booking Q1 2011-14). However, average revenue for first-quarter bookings to Europe in 2014 was the lowest since Aspire began, perhaps reflecting the deflationary pressure in the eurozone. Africa had its best first quarter, pushing
past the £6,000 average-booking mark for the first time. North America also had its highest average revenue to date in 2014 at more than £7,500. Asia has proved most consistent, with average-booking revenue just below £7,000, while Australasia topped the revenue chart with average bookings just below £9,000 in the three of the last four years – having been beaten by South America in 2012. A breakdown of average-booking value
by European destination shows France as the most ‘valuable’ destination, followed
Travel Weekly Insight Annual Report 2014 | 41
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