A new player is entering the private jet tour market, the latest in the growing demand for ultra-exclusive, once-in-a-lifetime excursions.
The luxury lifestyle magazine Robb Report, in partnership with TCS World Travel, last week unveiled a 23-day, around-the-world private jet tour. It’s just the first step in what Robb Report's editorial director, Bruce Wallin, says is the company’s plan for expanding in the luxury travel space.
For $126,000 a person, the trip for 52 aboard a customized Boeing 757-200ER with 180-degree flatbed seats embarks from Honolulu Oct. 13, 2016, and heads to Fiji, Australia, Bali, Sri Lanka, Marrakech and Bermuda.
It ends in California, where the guests will join a panel of editors at Robb Report’s signature Car of the Year event. The guests will get to drive the cars under consideration and help the editors select the winner.
Wallin said that while the Robb Report has previously offered special excursions to a small group of invitation-only club members, this product marks it debut as a more general travel provider.
“Expanding our presence in the travel space is something we have been discussing for a long time,” he said, noting the company decided to start by making “a big splash with a trip that, in our opinion, has few, if any, parallels."
Wallin said the itinerary and accommodations were selected by Robb Report’s editorial staff and that the trip will differ from others because it will focus on the “lifestyle elements” of each of the destinations, whether its dining, shopping, art or wellness.
The trip was offered to club members before it was announced publicly last week, he said, and several have already signed up. He also said Robb Report will pay commissions on a select number of seats, although he did not say how many.
Robb Report is just the latest entrant in the growing market of private jet travel and around-the-world travel providers, which now includes players like Four Seasons, Abercrombie & Kent, National Geographic and Crystal Cruises.
“I definitely think this is a growing trend,” he said. “And obviously I don’t have sales figures for all these other ones, but based on the reaction to the Four Seasons trip and some of these other ones, and the fact that they are actually introducing more and more trips, is a pretty strong indicator that there is a market for this.”
This article has been updated to reflect that the trip is a 23-day, round-the-world tour, not a 60-day trip as originally stated.