luxury market report singapore
Above Riding a horse at Gorkhi-Terelj National Park in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia
Singapore
rich shun
materialism
Singapore’s big spenders
are craving for intangible
pleasures over material
delights, luxury players
tell Pamela Chow
14 TTG Asia luxury | May 2018
It’s a non-materialistic world for
Singaporean travellers, who are
eschewing pampering and sight-
seeing in favour of adventure and
adrenaline-coursing activities.
These run the gamut from
chugging down the Trans-
Siberian Railway, to tracking the
endangered black rhino on a safari
in Namibia, to experiencing the
nomadic lifestyle in Mongolia with
local herders, travel experts shared.
“As well as hoping to push
their personal boundaries and
seek new adventures, many
of our Singaporean guests are
opting for ‘transformative travel’,
where travellers see a holiday as
a time for self-reflection or self-
development,” observed Nico
Heath, co-founder and director of
Lightfoot Travel.
He noted that popular
experiences for Singaporean
travellers – who are “getting
more adventurous” and going
farther afield for longer periods
of time – include sailing a yacht
around the Croatian islands, dune
driving in Oman’s Wahiba Sands
and searching for endangered
gorillas in Rwanda.
Jacada Travel reported similar
trends. Last year, 40 per cent of
bookings were for trips stretching
longer than two weeks, and for
trips booked for 2018, 50 per cent
are more than two weeks long.
Alex Malcolm, founder and
managing director of Jacada
Travel, observed that more
Singaporeans are extending their
trips to surrounding destinations
– such as from South Africa to
Zambia or Zimbabwe – and
engaging in different activities
“they would never have
thought of”.