Future of Business Travel & Luxury MICE: What Ultra-Affluent Clients Will Expect in 2026 and Beyond
2025-10-22 14:39
Luxury travel is changing faster than ever. The way ultra-affluent clients experience the world and do business is changing quietly, but completely. As the wealthiest individuals rethink how they work, journey, and invest their time and money, business travel and MICE are becoming extensions of lifestyle and legacy. Not just logistics. The old symbols of luxury – marble lobbies, private jets, invitations-only clubs – no longer define success. What matters now is time, focus, and a sense that every trip means something.
At ITB Asia 2025, Tatiana Sheremetieva, CEO of RSBU Global Travel, outlined how ultra-affluent travellers are reshaping expectations for 2026 and beyond. The future of luxury travel fuses performance, wellbeing, and responsibility into one seamless experience. Today's discerning travellers are booking fewer trips but with greater depth and deliberation.
The intersection of mobility, technology, and personalization is giving rise to a new paradigm: journeys that serve as platforms for connection and purpose. In this new reality, AI, sustainability, and the rise of “bleisure” travel are transforming not just what luxury looks like, but why it matters.
The Great Wealth Shift and the Future of Luxury
Wealth at the top is growing fast – and changing hands even faster. In 2024, the number of high-net-worth individuals rose by 2.6%, and their combined wealth by over 4%. But the real shift isn’t in the numbers. A generational transfer worth more than $83 trillion is now moving from baby boomers to Gen X, millennials, and Gen Z – the “next-gen HNWIs” redefining what success and luxury mean.
These travellers think differently. Nearly nine in ten explore business or investment opportunities while on holiday, and almost half extend work trips by several days – blurring the line between meetings and meaning.
Nowhere is this transformation more visible than in APAC – the world’s fastest-growing hub of private wealth. The region’s 7.7 million HNWIs control $26.9 trillion in assets and are driving a new style of mobility where business, lifestyle, and legacy merge.
Luxury travel follows the same trajectory. The global luxury-hospitality market is expected to soar from $239 billion in 2023 to $391 billion by 2028, fuelled by high-income households and a new generation of globally mobile entrepreneurs. Asia-Pacific already accounts for 37% of global luxury-leisure supply, outpacing the Americas and Europe.
Bleisure Boom Among HNW & UHNW Travelers
For the world’s wealthiest travelers, the line between business and leisure has all but disappeared. Meetings now spill into weekends; investment trips turn into curated retreats. More than 80% of high-net-worth travelers combine work with personal exploration, and nearly half add several extra days to business itineraries – up sharply from just 29% two years ago.
What is “Bleisure”?
Bleisure is a portmanteau of "business" and "leisure," referring to the practice of combining business travel with personal vacation time. It involves extending a business trip to include leisure activities, such as sightseeing or spending time with family, by either taking extra personal days or scheduling the trip around weekends. Though the term “bleisure” first appeared in the late 2000s, the trend took off in the 2010s and accelerated after the pandemic.
The numbers tell a bigger story. The bleisure travel market already exceeds $611 billion and is set to approach $1 trillion by 2030, growing nearly 10 percent a year. But it isn’t just about mixing work and play – it’s about redesigning time itself. Companies are rewriting travel policies to make flexibility a perk, while destinations are reimagining business districts as lifestyle zones, with fine dining, wellness, and cultural access steps away from the boardroom (where the only deadlines are check-out times).
Airports, hotels, and even business lounges are being rebuilt around a new rhythm of movement – one where travellers switch from meetings to mindfulness without changing continents.
Designing the Ultra-Luxury Travel Experience
In 2025, what once defined exclusivity has become the standard. Privacy, seamlessness, personalization, wellness, sustainability, and security are no longer optional add-ons – they are the non-negotiable foundations of every ultra-luxury travel experience.
Clients now expect these pillars as part of the basic offering, not as upgrades. This shift means that travel and hospitality providers must move beyond merely meeting expectations – toward creating enhanced experiences and value-added services that surprise even the most discerning guests. In the ultra-luxury segment, excellence is assumed; differentiation comes from depth, anticipation, and design intelligence.
In the ultra-luxury segment, added value is no longer about upgrades – it’s about access. Discerning travelers now seek experiences that blend exclusivity with meaning: private cultural encounters, after-hours museum tours, and behind-the-scenes performances that connect them directly to heritage and artistry.
Designing travel for UHNW and HNW clients demands precision, empathy, and foresight. Every element – from fast-track airport arrivals to seamless session pacing and discreet logistics – shapes the perception of perfection.
Key Trends Shaping 2026 and Beyond
Luxury travel in 2026 isn’t about more – it’s about better. The new generation of wealthy travellers is redefining the experience of privilege: privacy replaces performance, and meaning outweighs display. Technology is no longer a tool but a silent partner – shaping journeys that anticipate needs before they’re voiced. Wellness, sustainability, and design intelligence have moved from the margins to the core, defining what it means to travel well in the decade ahead. The result is a quieter, smarter, and more intentional kind of luxury.
“Excellence is already expected at the top end of the market. The next challenge is anticipation – shaping travel experiences that combine precision, purpose, and human connection.” – Tatiana Sheremetieva.
Quiet Luxury: understated, private, and meaningful experiences replacing overt displays of wealth.
AI-powered personalization: hospitality providers using machine learning to tailor every detail, from itinerary curation to on-site wellness.
Wellness and longevity: 90 percent of travellers now consider health and wellbeing in booking decisions, with Asia leading global wellness tourism.
Sustainability as standard: 77 percent of high-net-worth clients prefer eco-certified hotels and carbon-neutral transport options.
Next-gen MICE: closed-circle, invitation-only gatherings designed for family offices, private investors, and corporate leaders seeking meaningful engagement.
Rising service expectations: affluent clients demand a seamless door-to-door experience, combining private aviation and luxury MICE venues.
Bleisure & family office travel: family offices commission MICE events with parallel programs for spouses and children – art tours, wellness activities, and private schooling visits.
C-Suite implication: UHNW/HNW audiences increasingly view MICE not as simple “meetings,” but as platforms for deal-making, private networking, and family office engagement.
Investment surge in content and “wow factor”: events are designed as once-in-a-lifetime experiences rather than standard programs.
Short but intense: traditional week-long forums are giving way to 3-day high-impact summits.
The Business of Meaning: What It All Means for the Market
Luxury travel is no longer just an industry – it’s becoming a language of influence. The shift toward purpose-driven, tech-enabled, and wellness-oriented journeys is forcing hotels, DMCs, and MICE organizers to rethink how they create value. Ultra-affluent clients now expect not only flawless execution, but intelligent design – experiences that align with their personal ethos, legacy, and time.
For brands, this means moving beyond products and into philosophy. The winners of 2026 will be those who can anticipate emotion as well as logistics, blending data precision with human touch. The rise of AI-powered personalization, sustainable infrastructure, and hybrid “bleisure” programs will redefine competition – not by who offers more, but by who understands better.
The ripple effect extends far beyond hospitality. From aviation and private banking to art fairs and investment summits, the convergence of mobility, meaning, and technology is reshaping how global wealth travels and what it seeks to leave behind.