Where are the world’s richest travelling in summer 2023? The 1 per cent is avoiding the masses with private retreats, booking ‘surf-and-turf’ trips – and skipping The White Lotus’ Sicily setting
- Don’t check Instagram to find out the ultra-wealthy’s travel habits – the most demanding holidaymakers go to luxury agencies like Scott Dunn Private, Red Savannah and International Travel Management
- These experts reveal where the world’s richest go to play – from Le Grand Jardin at Cote d’Azur in France and Paros in Greece, to safari camp buyouts in Africa and Bulgari and Six Senses Rome
If you want to know where the richest one per cent is travelling this summer, forget Instagram – they’re surely too smart to tag freely and give away their go-to getaways. (Well, not until they’ve gotten home, at least.) Instead, look to the elite group of agents who help wrangle those jaunts and cater to the wealthiest, most demanding holidaymakers.
Jules Maury, who runs Scott Dunn Private, the firm within global travel agency Scott Dunn, is available to clients willing to spend at least US$100,000 with her every year – but most spend far more.
John Clifford in San Diego runs International Travel Management and has expertise with LGBTQ+ travel. His client base spends around 10,000 euros a day, or about US$11,180, on the trip’s basics, before bolting on private experiences – such as a tour of the Vatican without crowds – that cost between 10,000 and 15,000 euros each.
Edward Granville runs Red Savannah, a London firm that works with wealthy travellers worldwide. The average trip he books costs around £35,000, or about US$45,000, though many cost more than double that amount, and he’s regularly booking million-dollar jaunts.
We asked these travel professionals to share the secrets of where and how the richest one per cent are holidaying in summer 2023.
Newest trend: “surf-and-turf travel”
“We’re doing so many more yachts than we did before the pandemic, and they’re bigger and better as well – the budget has changed from, perhaps, US$25,000 per week to up to US$90,000,” Granville told us, citing the new Galapagos-based Aqua Mare as a prime example.
