The APAC region contributes over 6 million millionaires, recording double digit growth in 2018 and a powerhouse market like China continues to drive global wealth, with well over 1 million millionaires to date.

In our latest conversations with the affluent Asian consumer covering 6 key markets, we looked at their travel habits, preferences and aspirations.

The travel sector has seen strong growth in recent years, driven by high-net-worth consumers’ continuing shift in priorities from material items to experiences.

Many Asian millionaires interviewed by Agility point to a change in priorities from focusing on brand names and physical luxury goods towards more of a focus on quality of life, and an increasing association of international travel with a high-quality lifestyle.

Agility expects this trend to continue in 2019, with far more HNW Asians looking to increase their leisure travel frequency and spend than to reduce it. We also register sustained overall optimism across the region when it comes to future travel spending.

Asian millionaires’ enthusiasm for travel is readily apparent. Among all the things they are passionate about, travel is number one – ahead of fashion, cars and exercise.

In 2018, travel and travel-related experiences took up as much as a third of their discretionary spending. Travel overall was the biggest spending category, ahead of luxury fashion goods, except in China where millionaires still spent more on fashion.

Within travel, consumers from China, Japan and India, in particular, showed willingness to spend on travel activities and experiences, while Hong Kong millionaires showed highest share of spend on cruises.

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