The world is your oyster and here is the pearl: How to spend £100,000 on a holiday

Without wanting to mention those years again, 2024 saw the first return to pre-pandemic boom levels for global tourism. Even against the backdrop of economic uncertainty, political instability, and climate concern, an estimated 1.4billion tourists travelled somewhere, up 11% from 2023.

Not a huge surprise; the travel industry has long been seen as if not recession-proof then at least recession-resistant, with more people viewing a holiday as a non-negotiable escape from other stresses than strictly a ‘luxury’. Indeed, in 2022, the World Travel & Tourism Council estimated that, for the next decade, travel levels will increase at an average of 5.8% annually, which more than doubles the much gloomier forecast for overall economic growth.

There are numerous drivers for this, but in recent conversations with industry colleagues something of a big-spending trend became apparent: the rise of the £100,000-plus holiday.

Elegant Resorts reported an ‘exponential growth’ in high-value bookings over the past few years. Luxury tour operator Carrier saw such bookings rise to 23% of their total 2024 sales. Sarah Ives, who designs high-end itineraries at Cartology Travel, noted: ‘In a year defined by uncertainty, our clients are going big on the extraordinary.’

Now, in these echelons of travel, ‘extraordinary’ could simply mean expensive. You could, for example, book Etihad’s three-room ‘penthouse’ The Residence for your next A380 flight to Abu Dhabi or New York where, for £9,000, two of you can enjoy a bedroom, an en suite shower, and a TV equipped ‘lounge’ complete with champagne fridge. (Or fly first on Air France just for the Jacquemus pyjamas).

You could check in to the Royal Mansion at Atlantis in Dubai for a cool $100,000 a night, do a week in the girls’ trip White Lotus villa for about the same, or spend almost twice that on a bespoke Louis Vuitton travel trunk for your trainers. You could, if you really wanted, drop nearly €4,000 to bring back a 12-piece cutlery set from Hotel du Cap-Eden-Roc as a souvenir.

But the current trend for high-value bookings does tend to lean towards the more meaningful ‘extraordinary’. Carrier’s managing director, Natasha Towey, identifies these trips as tending to be ‘multi-generational or large groups travelling together, usually to mark special occasions, tick off once-in-a-lifetime and bucket-list dreams, or embark on grand family adventures.’ Most of the time they will involve more than one destination, perhaps a multi-stop tour through a region or adventure paired with R’n’R, and exclusivity, access, and privacy are a must. ‘We’ve noticed a real shift,’ Ives elaborates, ‘people are craving space, nature, and calm. The world feels noisy, and these trips — ultra-private safaris, super spas, multi-week journeys – are about stepping away and reconnecting.’

Jules Maury heads up Scott Dunn Private, the dedicated concierge service for around 500 of the travel company’s top spenders (a minimum £100,000 yearly spend being the eligibility point). She has also seen the swing to ever more immersive adventures. ‘People want to hear the narrative. It’s much easier to sell them why they’re going somewhere if there’s a story around it that means that place is contributing something back to the world — that didn’t happen 20 years ago. No one even asked.’

So it would seem embracing adventurousness is worth spending the big bucks on. James Aiken is a man very used to leaving his comfort zone way behind, regularly embarking on solo expeditions in the likes of Iceland, Norway, and 3,264 miles across the Atlantic Ocean. ‘I believe we’re entering a time when people appreciate the benefits of stepping beyond the familiar, seeking experiences that challenge and inspire,’ he explains. So often were people asking him how to attempt their own expeditions, with all the logistical challenges that ensue, that he’s now setting up his own travel company, Untrodden, to curate high-spec adventures that ‘blend the thrill of the unknown with the pleasures of thoughtful luxury’ for those desperate to push themselves a little further.

Of course, the journey can be the destination, to coin a phrase, and the recent reboot of luxurious trains and boats has been another boon for the itineraries of high-spending travellers. ‘The more trains they can bring on the better!’ says Maury. ‘There are those who’ve been wedded to the Belmonds but now they’re looking at La Dolce Vita (above) or the Eastern Orient Express.’

And when I offered Cartology’s Sarah Ives my hypothetical riches with a ‘send me anywhere’ request, she was quick to recommend sailing through Champagne on Les Bateaux Belmond’s latest ‘floating villa’, Coquelicot. ‘Private charter only for up to six guests — it’s basically the definition of luxury slow travel.’

To splash out on something a little faster and a little showier, superyacht brokers Edmiston’s search page of head-turning charter yachts has a price slider you can set as, um, low as €258,000 a week or as high as €2million then be sailed, with up to 11 of your nearest and dearest, from sceney ports to scenic shores. Act fast though, because as senior marketing manager Tash Wells says, ‘a key trend we’re seeing at the moment is the growth in charter spend and an increase in the demand for bigger or newer yachts as well as those cruising for extended periods of time.’

Perhaps the ultimate aquatic adventure, and still one of the priciest, is to explore the icy wilds of Antarctica. ‘People love to do Chile then go down to Antarctica. It’s a real bucket list destination,’ says Maury. And if those of a certain age have concerns over the exertion of such a trip, worry not. ‘Some of these places you have to be age conscious with — if you’re going to be wandering around mountains in Bhutan or in the Outback, you have to be reasonably fit — but with Antarctica you’re actually on a boat and everything is being done for you, so to speak.’

In slightly warmer climes, if you fancy doing the European summer classics with a twist, Carrier’s new budgets-be-damned Limitless collection features a multi-stop shuttling from mainland Greece to the Athenian Riviera, on to Puglia and Venice, exclusively by private jet and private helicopter, with top-suite stays and even a make-your-own-statue masterclass.

Skift called this the year so called ‘live tourism’ would become unstoppable and, according to the American Express 2025 travel trends report, 60% of respondents worldwide were planning trips centred around concerts, sporting events, or cultural happenings, so those that can add a box for Beyoncé, a private Louvre viewing, or a pole-position penthouse for the Monaco Grand Prix as part of a broader itinerary are in ever higher demand. ‘We just had some clients in Egypt whose son was studying archaeology,’ says Maury. ‘We arranged the most amazing access to not only the pyramids at dawn, but we also had them able to go through with some top Egyptologists.’

Stay longer, see more, travel better, bring the extended family, step beyond the proverbial velvet rope. If you’ve got the funds, it seems now is the time to have the fun. It sure beats filling another bonded warehouse with wine you’ll never drink.