IN FOCUS


Sommarøy Arctic Hotel Tromsø, Norway


EXPERIENTIAL TRAVEL Go the extra mile


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Cookson Adventures didn’t say no when a client asked whether it could guarantee a sighting of the unpredictable northern lights. Instead, the tour operator contacted its friends at Nasa, who studied the sky and managed to pinpoint the most


reliable global location. Landing on an extremely remote part of


Norway, the only viable accommodation in the vicinity was a frozen-over fishing hut. Cookson’s team spent a week dethawing it and furnishing it with candles, furs and heat lamps. As it turns out, the client got four full days of swirling, green magic. For brands such as Cookson Adventures,


it’s just another day in the office. Experiential travel has hit extraordinary heights in recent years, with an American Express survey finding that 72% of respondents would now rather spend money on experiences than items. As Belmond’s Roeland Vos summarised at Aspire’s Leaders of Luxury conference:


Today’s luxury


customer has seen and done most things, so agents must think outside the box to meet their clients’ demands


“You’ve got two cars, or you’ve bought your second house and you’ve got people saying ‘How much more stuff do I need? What I’m really looking for is an experience that will give me bragging rights and, most importantly, experience rights with family or loved ones’. It’s truly a shift in behaviour of the luxury customer.” Today’s luxury customer has generally seen and done most things, so agents must think outside the box to meet their clients’ demands. Done right, experiential travel holds great rewards; bespoke itineraries curated by the likes of Cookson Adventures, which recently began working with the trade, cost anywhere between £50,000 and £7 million.


Next-level travel But Cookson Adventures isn’t the only operator pushing the boundaries of experiential travel. Richard Branson’s space tourism firm, Virgin Galactic, is said to be just a few


ª aspiretravelclub.co.uk SEPTEMBER 2019 ASPIRE 35


CREDIT: SOMMAROY ARCTIC HOTEL TROMSO


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