Luxury and ultra-luxury travelers are increasingly opting for cruises where experiential offerings, value and lifestyle issues trump brand recognition, according to Internova Travel Group research.
“As small-ship fleets expand and hotel brands long associated with land-based luxury enter the market, affluent travelers are no longer asking which cruise line is ‘the best,’” Internova said. “ Instead, they’re asking which one fits them.”
Upward of 80% of luxury and ultra-luxury travelers said they were interested in luxury yacht cruising, compared to 34% of travelers overall, the research found, with almost two-thirds of respondents expressing an interest in expedition cruising.
“Luxury cruising used to be about hierarchy,” said Teresa Tennant, senior vice president of Cruise Specialists, a luxury travel agency that is a unit of Internova Travel Group.
“Now it’s about compatibility,” she added. “The wrong cruise can feel like an expensive blind date. The right one feels like it was designed just for you.”
In all, 63% of luxury and ultra-luxury travelers said they intend to avail themselves of the services of advisors this year, “citing the importance of understanding personal preferences and navigating complex, high-value travel decisions,” the research uncovered.
“The misconception is that cruising is one experience,” Tennant said. “In reality, it’s dozens of completely different ones. When travelers say they don’t like cruises, it almost always means they were simply mismatched.”
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