News
Eight ways to see the future of luxury travel
By April Hutchinson
Dodging locusts, learning to share and keeping up with the world’s 600 most popular cities are all vital tactics for brands looking to succeed in the modern luxury sector in the months ahead. Philippa Wagner (pictured), senior futures
consultant at The Future Laboratory, identified eight noteworthy emerging trends, including the Locust Effect, which sees consumers descend en masse on certain trends but quickly move on. Wagner said: “Luxury brands are reporting
groups of consumers ‘swarming’ on to a brand; they literally consume everything about it and then it is over and they move on to the next big thing.” Another key trend she said to watch for
was Continental Drift, which recognises the increasing importance of airports to “sixth- continent luxurians”, with many of them doing much of their shopping in specific duty-free airport locations; Nigerian luxury
travellers alone spend an average of £1,059 per visit to Heathrow, Wagner said. Metro Magnets are the top 600 cities to
watch, accounting for the vast majority of luxury spending around the world, while the Billionaire Boom illustrates the importance of keeping in with the super-rich, 82% of whom saw their wealth increase in 2014. In contrast, the emergence of New Value-Seekers – particularly
among 18 to 35-year-olds – means companies need to take heed of their “dislike of conspicuous consumption” and adoption of the sharing economy, something companies such as BMW are heeding with their offer of DriveNow, a car-sharing scheme that offers the latest models. In hospitality, Wagner highlighted Life-lodging
as a trend for people’s desire to tap into the local community around the hotel they are staying in. Hotel Hotel in Canberra acts as a cultural hub, she said, with the hotel including a bike rental service and shop, a library, a hair salon, a cinema and an art gallery, while Zoku in Amsterdam positions itself as a neighbourhood for “global nomads”. “The younger generation are not just looking
for a location, they expect the hotel to be a cultural hub and they expect to be part of it,” Wagner said. Another key trend is Virtual Opulence,
whereby the use of immersive technology is used in luxury retail – and increasingly in travel, with Qantas, Air New Zealand and Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts among those using the technology. Finally, Geo Quests, with people forced out and about to interact with brands, was a marketing trend being tracked,Wagner said.
David thomson, chief operating officer, ja resorts & hotels
With a Sri Lankan hotel in the pipeline, JA Resorts & Hotels is moving beyond its Dubai roots,
reports April Hutchinson
I have had breakfast with travel industry people in various places, but David Thomson (pictured) is the first one I have interviewed in the back of a car. Travelling to WTM London together, we shared a flask of tea (Earl Grey, made by me, of course) and he told me of the company’s plans for its next hotel. Dubai-based JA Resorts & Hotels, owned by
the Dutco Group of Companies, has been operating since 1981, when it opened JA Jebel Ali Beach Hotel, and has four other hotels in the emirate, but international expansion was slow to follow. Enchanted Island Resort didn’t launch in Seychelles until 2013, followed with JA Manafaru in the far north Haa Alif atoll in the Maldives in November 2014. But now, it’s all systems go on the next big
project – the $30 million JA Eclipse Beach Resort in Sri Lanka, which will open towards the end of 2017. Tourism is predicted to increase by 20-25% a year, according to the Sri Lankan Tourism Development Authority and Thomson says: “Eclipse will be the first luxury resort on the east coast.” The 108-room resort will be on 33 acres at Kathiraveli, between Trincomalee and Batticaloa, with large free-form swimming
pools, pool villas, water features and a lazy river. One of the ways of arriving at the resort will
be via a tandem skydive, or via seaplane. “Bringing in seaplanes to carry passengers from Colombo to the resort is pretty much set now – the service will be operated by the Sri Lanka Air Force,” says Thomson. JA will also be looking to get more Sri Lankans
back in to work at the resort. “We want to employ as much of the local population as possible and we have a lot of Sri Lankans employed at our other properties, so they will be offered the chance to repatriate to their home country,” says Thomson. And in the future? “Well our core guest
markets are Germany, UK, Russia, US and China and it makes sense that we might open hotels there, but we continue to look in the Indian Ocean, as well as a project in Phuket. There are a lot of opportunities out there.”
What April learnt
POOL POWER: The pools at the JA Eclipse Beach Resort will cover seven acres.
WHALE STORY: One of the best excursions from JA Eclipse will be to see the only non-migratory population of blue whale in the world.
WALK THIS WAY: Thomson will do a 239-mile walk from Colombo to Kathiraveli to raise money to build a school near the new hotel.
WINE & DIVE: There are 4,000 bottles in the wine cellar at JA Manafaru, which also happens to be close to 35 dive sites.
FAMILY MATTERS: JA works with Worldwide Kids Company on its kids clubs; David has six children of his own, aged 14 to 21.
IN THE KNOW WINTER 2015
TTGLUXURY.COM 15
Breakfast with...
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