Does a tough economy actually make luxury travel more affordable?
Although many people are having to make cut-backs and are being more careful about how they spend, particularly when it comes to leisure, luxury travellers are in fact finding that many luxury hotels and resorts, cruise packages and flights are much more affordable. Operators within the tourist industry are offering luxury for less whilst significant discounts abound. Have you managed to take advantage of some competitive pricing? If so, please let us know!
Paul Johnson
Paul Johnson is Editor of A Luxury Travel Blog and has worked in the travel industry for more than 30 years. He is Winner of the Innovations in Travel ‘Best Travel Influencer’ Award from WIRED magazine. In addition to other awards, the blog has also been voted “one of the world’s best travel blogs” and “best for luxury” by The Daily Telegraph.
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The current economy has rendered stronger competition between vendors, accommodations and even destinations. We have noticed that at virtually all levels of travel there are better deals due to a lower demand and higher competition. Some deals materialize as discounts where other show up as free added value to tours like a free private car supplied to travelers from their home to the airport, or a free ticket to a show while on tour, etc. If you have the means, recent travel benefits have sky-rocketed!
What I can tell you is that I have found that airlines have greatly reduced prices for airline tickets. Regarding the travel packages I believe that in 2009 they had higher prices than in 2008. (PS: I’m from Romania)
i’ve noticed more difference in hotel prices than with flights which i think have increased in price maybe due to the taxes but flying is not as cheap as it used to be!
I don’t notice this at all with airline fares. (Maybe it is different in Europe). I can only comment on fares in the U.S. and to Asia (the areas I have recently traveled to). In fact, in many cases airline fares have remained much higher than they were when the economy was much better. With that said, there are some amazing package deals air/tour combinations, which appear to be lower than in the past.
I agree that I see lower cruise, resort, and hotel prices. There are a lot of high end hotels that have increasingly slashed prices. Plus, with the onslaught of sample sale travel websites there are also an abundance of good hotel deals to be found.