To satisfy their thirst for exploration, the super-rich are willing to spend enormous sums of money to venture to the most remote places in the world.
When we think of luxury travel experiences for the wealthy, we often envision them stepping out of a limousine onto a private jet, flying from a five-star hotel in Paris to another in Beverly Hills. Indulging in lavish hotels, high-end shopping, and fine dining experiences is an essential part of the repertoire for these exceptionally affluent travelers.
However, after experiencing all of these luxuries, there are no limits for the super-rich, who always seek to explore remote, exciting, and even challenging destinations to fulfill their adventurous desires.
As luxury travel becomes commonplace, the super-rich are now turning to unique and once-in-a-lifetime travel experiences.
Swain Tours, a Philadelphia-based bespoke travel company, shared that they have arranged helicopter trips for their wealthy clients to New Zealand’s Mount Cook, allowing them to hike down. They have also organized helicopter diving excursions for clients to catch lobsters and private jet rentals for clients to witness a solar eclipse.
Other thrilling and gentle adventures tailored for the wealthy include flying fighter jets in Russia, swimming with whale sharks in Mexico, tracking Bengal tigers in India, or encountering endangered mountain gorillas in the wilds of Uganda. Typically, these trips come with price tags ranging from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars for a single experience, and securing a spot on these tours is not an easy feat.
For a certain price, travelers not only gain access to the depths of the Earth’s oceans to visit the final resting place of the Titanic but also have the opportunity to explore locations like the Arctic, Africa, and even more remote destinations such as the International Space Station.
For the super-rich, the more challenging the experience, the more it symbolizes their opulence. A trip to the South Pole costs around $100,000, equivalent to 2.4 billion Vietnamese dong, while conquering Mount Everest comes with a similar price tag. However, as these experiences become more accessible, the super-rich are gradually losing interest in them.
Instead, they are now turning their attention to hunting expeditions or wildlife safaris in Africa and guided tours to the Arctic. Karen Loftus, who works for an adventure travel company, notes that she has witnessed a growing interest in these types of trips, with clients requesting to explore even more remote and desolate regions.
Karen mentions that while previously clients wanted to visit Kenya or Botswana in Africa to observe wild animals, they now aim to take it a step further and visit Rwanda to see gorillas.
Unique travel experiences always come with high costs but also their own limitations.
In May, Insider magazine reported that in 2023, the deɑth toll from Mount Everest expeditions reached a staggering number, with many climbers still unaccounted for. Recently, a fatal accident claimed the lives of five people during a dive to the Titanic, which was considered an expensive and extremely dangerous exploration.
In addition to personal risk, these adventure travel experiences contribute to exacerbating global warming due to frequent use of supersonic jets and private aircraft. Furthermore, many species are further endangered by the impact of these high-end adventure tourism activities pursued by the super-rich.
“They want to see the most pristine environments or ecosystems. They want to see gorillas or polar bears, and those are the species most at risk,” says Professor Lorri Krebs.
