For vacation experiences where relaxation is key for enjoying one´s self, this could easily be bothered when sharing facilities with a crowd. Nonetheless, during COVID-19, due to social distancing, the element of privacy has become invaluable. This has led to a rise in the private travel market: paying more, not just for luxury, but for safety.
A deluxe experience: privacy
Private travelling has been around for a while. This way of travelling is commonly seen with celebrities and ultra rich who want to avoid being recognized for a couple of days. The private travel products can go as far as needed: private jet flights, deluxe condos with private beaches and even a private island for the entire family. The market may be small but the high revenue is the game changer.
Travel agencies specializing in private luxury travel have a lot of work to do when it comes to tailoring these experiences to the needs of their customers; being careful with every detail and taking care of their privacy. Losing a client might be painful for any of these companies, so there’s no room for mistakes.
More valuable than ever
Chartering private jet flights or renting a whole island may seem pointless for the average traveler when there isn’t a pandemic. Now that there’s fear of boarding commercial flights or sharing common spaces with a lot of people, the privacy component has received more attention than ever. This is due to the fact that privacy has become equivalent to safety.
In fact, charter jet flights have seen an increase due to the pandemic, in comparison to statistics from before COVID-19. This has also translated into luxury properties being completely taken over by few or even one "social bubble". This rise in private travels has resulted in an opportunity for luxury accommodations and charter flight companies to build partnerships and offer best experiences to their clients.
Private travel post-COVID
COVID-19 has made every market evolve, from how meetings and events are taking place now, to this niche of private travels, where the main goal is to avoid social contact to the extreme. The boost that private travel has had during the pandemic may be lost when everything goes back to normal. However, since there were people that tasted this way of traveling for the first time during the pandemic, it’s possible that they may want to continue this way of travel in the future.
Conclusion
Because at the end of the day, we can all agree that COVID-19 changed the way we used to think about travel. Some people discovered how much they can relax without having to travel too far while others realized that they would prefer to spend more money in exchange for maintaining the safety that private travel can provide.