Luxury Travelers: A 2022 Profile

IMPORTANT: These findings are brought to you from our independent research, which is not sponsored, conducted, or influenced by any advertising or marketing agency. The key findings presented below represent data from over 4,000 American travelers collected in September 2022 by Future Partners (formerly known as Destination Analysts).

These travelers are defined as those that will highly prioritize luxury travel in their upcoming trips, representing 27% of the American traveling population. As you would expect, this group is top when it comes to tourism economic impact. The average Luxury Traveler will spend $6,260 on their leisure travel in the next 12 months—$2K+ more than the typical American traveler. Demographically, Luxury Travelers skew slightly male and somewhat older than other traveler segments. They are likelier to be parents to young children, are more educated, and more ethnically diverse. And while they indeed have higher household incomes compared to other travelers, a number of these travelers have not yet achieved the six-figure household income threshold yet but are still choosing to spend their discretionary income on luxury experiences in travel.

Some of the belief systems and behaviors of interest among Luxury Travelers include:

• Luxury Travelers are more eco-conscious compared to other traveler segments
• They are likelier to make an effort to support minority owned businesses when they travel
• Luxury Travelers are 3-times as likely as other travelers to want to be able to pay for travel services with crypto currency
• These travelers are far less likely to have a preference for road trips compared to other travelers—instead preferring air. They are also much more likely to be cruise travelers compared to other travelers.
• Luxury Travelers are likelier to consume cannabis compared to other travelers
• Luxury Travelers love their iPhones
• Luxury Travelers are the Type As out there traveling—the majority of these travelers describe themselves as having “active and energetic,” “outgoing and sociable,” and “dominant” personalities.

Other Behaviors and Preferences to consider about Luxury Travelers:

• These are the travelers most in love with rewards programs. One-third (33%) used/redeemed travel rewards or points on their most recent overnight trip.
• Luxury Travelers also have a benefit beyond their own travel as they appear to influence a greater swath of people—59% of Luxury travelers say they are someone others seek travel advice from
• This travel segment exhibits the highest prioritization of and commitment to travel—both financially and emotionally
• California and New York take top spots on their destinations list
• For Luxury Travelers, Food/Cuisine is a top, top destination motivator
• 32% of Luxury Travelers used an official destination website to plan travel in the last year
• Luxury travelers are News Junkies: 80% regularly consume content from major national news outlets and sources
• Luxury travelers are tech-forward: 30% say they are totally up-to-date on the latest travel technologies
• In fact, 61% of luxury travelers say right now they would be interested in using the metaverse as a way to get travel inspiration

For the complete set of findings, including historic data and custom information on your destination or business, purchase a subscription to The State of the American Traveler study.

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