What Virtuoso’s Data (and the CEO) Reveal About Where Luxury Is Headed
Six key takeaways from Virtuoso Travel Week 2025 reveal how booking patterns, generational shifts, and the rise of “Wander Women” are reshaping luxury travel.
Photo: Yousef Alfuhigi / Unsplash
The conversations in Las Vegas this week aren’t just about shaking hands and swapping business cards—they’re also about parsing the numbers, spotting the outliers, and understanding where high-spend clients are really headed next.
At the 37th annual Virtuoso Travel Week, the $90 billion network unveiled mid-year data and on-the-ground insights that challenge some of the year’s most persistent travel narratives. From the U.S.’s quiet climb up the inbound luxury charts to the surprising generation leading the fight against overtourism, the week’s takeaways offer advisors both confirmation and curveballs.
Virtuoso’s mid-year data, based on its data warehouse and ongoing global traveler surveys, shows overall sales up 12% in the first half of 2025 over last year. Hotel sales are the standout, climbing more than 25% year-over-year in the first half of the year and projected to grow more than 33% in the second half. The fall shoulder season has all but disappeared, with September-to-December bookings up 30% and sales up 39% versus an already strong 2024.
U.S. Travel’s Perception Gap
One of the most striking headlines was the rebuttal of a familiar narrative: that inbound luxury travel to the U.S. is in decline. Misty Belles, Virtuoso’s vice president of global public relations, noted inbound sales to the U.S. are actually up 4% year-to-date, with fall travel up 27% year-over-year. That growth is being driven not just by domestic travelers, but also by high-value visitors from markets like Canada and Australia.
Matthew Upchurch, Virtuoso’s chairman and CEO, framed this as a reminder that headline stats can mask segment-specific realities. “Right now, the U.S. is a wildcard,” he said, pointing out that high-spend travelers’ decisions can diverge sharply from broader tourism trends. For advisors, that means not writing off destinations based on generalized inbound reports, especially when client budgets and expectations put them in a different behavioral tier.
Generational Nuances in Luxury Demand
The 2025 Virtuoso Global Luxury Traveler Report shows a widening gap in how different generations define “worthwhile” travel. Gen Z and Millennials continue to seek “meaning-making” and transformation, often gravitating toward immersive stays—villas, lodges, and tented camps—over traditional hotels. Boomers and older Gen X travelers prioritize comfort and specialization, but they’re also leading on certain sustainability fronts.
Perhaps unexpectedly, boomers are the demographic most likely to make destination choices aimed at countering overtourism. That aligns with the rise of the “Wander Women” segment: More than 65% of Virtuoso’s solo travelers are female, and most are over 65. These clients are increasingly bypassing over-visited locales in favor of under-the-radar, culturally rich alternatives.
Advisors able to match this appetite for mindful travel with vetted, high-quality suppliers stand to gain loyalty from a segment with both spending power and repeat business potential.
The Advisor Advantage: Safety, Stewardship, and Ownership Insight
Safety and security ranked as the top planning priority for 75% of Virtuoso clients, outranking perks, upgrades, and even VIP access. Thirty percent of luxury travelers overall cited the “extra layer of protection” an advisor provides as the single biggest benefit of the relationship; among Virtuoso clients, that number jumps to 65%.
Upchurch urged advisors to go beyond product and rate knowledge to focus on destination stewardship, reframing “overtourism” into conversations about local self-determination and long-term viability. He also highlighted a subtler but increasingly valuable insight: who owns the property. “The same brand can deliver wildly different guest experiences depending on the owner’s commitment,” he said. Some brands are even adjusting fee structures based on ownership engagement, a sign to dig deeper into property-level dynamics.
Booking Behaviors: The Big Trips and the Fill-Ins
Despite chatter about last-minute bookings, Virtuoso’s average global booking window remains steady at 122 days, unchanged from last year. Upchurch attributes this to a “jar of pebbles and sand” approach: Clients plan milestone trips years out, fill in mid-tier trips within the year, and then add spontaneous opportunities on top. Advisors who debrief after each trip and proactively map future travel, what Virtuoso calls “Return on Life” planning, are turning those conversations into multi-year pipelines.
High-value forward bookings are especially strong: Trips over $50,000 are up 35% for 2026–27, with $50,000-plus cruise bookings up 43% and safari bookings up 21%.
Climate and Calendar Shifts
Changing climate patterns are also reshaping luxury travel calendars. Seventy-nine percent of Virtuoso advisors say their clients are open to off-season or alternative destinations due to weather considerations, and more than half report clients are already making those shifts.
That’s fueling the popularity of “coolcations” and contributing to fall’s newfound status as a peak season. “What used to be considered shoulder season is now coming into its own peak season,” Belles said, noting a 30% increase in fall bookings over last year.
