Feature by Havas Media Lux
Each year, our bespoke research, The New Codes of Luxury, tracks how verified high-net-worth and ultra-high-net-worth consumers across the UK, US and China buy into luxury: what they buy, where and why. This year, one category has pulled ahead of the rest. Travel is now the luxury category more wealthy consumers buy into above any other, ahead of fashion, watches and jewellery, and even beauty and skincare. But being the most bought is not the same as being the most inspiring.
Image: Havas Media Lux “The New Codes of Luxury”
Travel Takes the Lead
More than two-thirds of the luxury buyers we surveyed have bought luxury travel or hospitality in the past year. No other category has been bought by more people in any of the three markets. In the US, it isn’t even a close contest: almost three-quarters have bought luxury travel, compared with around half for fashion.
The Experience Is the Product
For a growing share of luxury buyers, the objects they purchase matter less than the experiences they remember. Memory Makers, one of the five consumer cohorts we track, name a memorable experience as their number one reason for buying luxury. They are among the category’s heaviest buyers: more than seven in ten have bought luxury travel in every market.
Bought By Most, Credited by Few
Travel is the category wealthy consumers buy into most, but it isn’t the one they see as leading luxury forward. When we asked which category is the most innovative, travel trailed behind watches and jewellery., particularly in the UK and China. The category winning the most buyers hasn’t yet won their imagination, and that leaves a clear opening for travel brands willing to rethink how they show up in 2027.
Image: Four Seasons, Belmond, Aman Group & Emirates have all topped the innovation leader board in Travel
Would you like to know more about The New Codes of Luxury for 2027?
This year’s New Codes of Luxury report goes further than the categories gaining ground; it reveals the audiences, markets and categories redefining luxury, and the four behaviours brands need to adopt in 2027.
If you’d like to understand what it means for your brand, we’d love to talk. Please contact Hmnukcomms@havasmn.com, or visit havasmedialux.com to find out more.