Business / Billionaires

Where the rich like to vacation

According to luxury travel magazine Virtuoso Life, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Ireland and France emerged as the top “dream destinations.”

Jul 18, 2013 | By AFPRelaxnews

Australia

The dynamic, sun-soaked Land Down Under has emerged as the top dream destination for the third year in a row among the world’s most affluent globetrotters.

According to luxury travel magazine Virtuoso Life, Australia, Italy, New Zealand, Ireland and France emerged as the top “dream destinations” overall among travelers for whom money is of little object.

The Travel Dreams Survey found that Australia was popular among a demographic of travelers Virtuoso categorizes as ‘The Go-Getter,’ defined as active, adventurous globetrotters, and ‘The Trendsetter,’ early adopters who have their finger on the pulse of the latest travel trends and destinations.

For culinary escapades, meanwhile, readers named the usual suspects, with Paris taking the top spot, followed by Rome, Florence, New York City, and New Orleans.

And when it comes to bucket list travel among the well-heeled, taking a cruise around the world topped renting a European villa and going on an African safari and photographing the ‘Big Five.’

Travel preferences among readers delineated clear groups of travelers, says Virtuoso, which identified five different types of travel personalities.

Along with Go-Getters and Trendsetters, there’s also ‘The Connoisseur,’ the sophisticated traveler who seeks out luxury, top-tier experiences, be it food, wine art, and hotels.

Classic Travelers are defined as being loyal to the places they love, returning multiple times to their favorite destinations, while the Relaxationist seeks out restorative, rejuvenating vacations that offer reprieve from everyday life.

Luxury travel network Virtuoso is made up of 340 agencies in 20 countries in North and South America, the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand and publishes Virtuoso Life for top-tier clients. The Travel Dream survey was conducted between February 1 and March 31 and surveyed nearly 8,000 readers.

Consultancy group Resonance, meanwhile, found that wine country tours through Italy and France were the most coveted types of luxury travel, followed by cruising on a luxury liner.

Here are the top 10 Dream Destinations in the Travel Dream Survey:

1. Australia
2. Italy
3. New Zealand
4. Ireland
5. France
6. South Africa
7. The Caribbean
8. Greece
9. England
10. French Polynesia


 
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