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• 4 min de lectura
Virtuoso's luxury travel network is on pace for a nearly 21% increase in year-over-year sales in 2026, building on a strong 2025.
Growth is broad-based: every traveler-origin region is up, led by greater China at 34%, the United Kingdom and Ireland at 26%, the Middle East and Africa at 24% and Continental Europe at 23%, with the United States up 21%.
By partner type, hotels lead at 24.5%, followed by cruising at 22.4%, on-site partners (destination management companies) at 17.5% and tour operators at 11%.
Growth is concentrated at the top of the market, with bookings at hotels charging $1,500 or more per night increasing 37% and growing at more than twice the rate of lower-priced properties. Rates are climbing alongside volume: luxury international hotels now average $1,653 a night and luxury US hotels $1,445, up from $985 and $790 in 2019.
Travelers are booking further into the future. Global future leisure sales one and two years out are up 50%.
The pattern strengthens as the price rises: bookings of $50,000 or more are up 47%, and cruise bookings at that level are up 49% in 2026 over 2025.
Fall 2026 bookings are 59% higher year over year and sales are up 69%. September leads on sales, up 77% with a 55% increase in bookings, while October bookings are up 59% and November is up more than 70% in both measures.
Virtuoso said the entire autumn window has shifted from afterthought to headline season.
Europe shows the shift most clearly. Year-to-date sales at Virtuoso's preferred European hotels are up 39% through June, with every month of the first half up strongly in both bookings and sales. September booking volumes on the continent have climbed from 79% of August's in 2023 to 92% in 2025, growing nearly three times faster than August across that span. Virtuoso's pacing data suggests September could outsell August this year.
Shoulder season has officially shed its bargain reputation. Bookings to Europe this fall climbed 49% even as rates rose more than 7%, lifting overall sales 64% and showing that travelers are choosing the season for what it offers rather than what it saves.
Rate growth was sharpest along the French Riviera, followed by Puglia and the Greek Isles.
Another trend Virtuoso calls "city-maxxing" sees luxury travelers stringing destinations together into longer, multicity itineraries, and roughly one in two of these trips crosses an international border. France-Italy is the most common pairing, followed by France and the UK, then Italy and Switzerland.
Italy appears in two of every five multicity routings, anchoring corridors such as Florence, Rome and Venice.
Wellness has moved from amenity to itinerary, according to Virtuoso. Wellness-segmented hotels are outpacing the broader hotel portfolio, with bookings up 28%, sales up 44% and average daily rates up 23%. The category now spans sleep optimization, metabolic health and mental-health retreats, with longevity tourism the breakout segment, pairing medical diagnostics with five-star hospitality.
In Virtuoso's July survey of nearly 800 advisors across the world, multigenerational and family travel led the trip types clients are asking for more of, cited by 69%, followed by premium and luxury ocean cruising at 63% and celebration travel at 60%.
The generational split is sharp: baby boomers drive cruise demand, at 76% for ocean, 68% for river and 64% for small ship/expedition cruising, while millennials lean toward beach escapes and new luxury products and experiences.
The same survey points to a shift in how clients book. Sixty percent are prioritizing bucket-list trips, 42% are booking further ahead to secure preferred options and 30% are taking fewer but longer, higher-quality trips.
Luxury travel continues to evolve as travelers look beyond where they go and toward how they want to feel when they get there. They seek a deeper sense of well-being, longevity and the freedom to travel on their own terms.
The findings were released at the ongoing 38th annual Virtuoso Travel Week in Las Vegas.
