'What could be more exotic and off the beaten path than space?', luxury travel agency Intriq Journey, formed by a breakaway team of the former Country Holidays, Singapore, which was acquired by Scott Dunn in January 2018, is blazing new trails with space as its newest frontier.

The bespoke travel company, which was founded in January 2020 by three ex-Country Holidays veterans, Jess Yap, Lim Kok Yong and Stella Fan, is selling Virgin Galactic flights in the three markets – Singapore, Hong Kong and China – where the three executives are based respectively.

Jess Yap: “Space travel is a good example of what we stand for at Intriq – exotic, off the beaten path destinations for the discerning, well-heeled traveller.”

In partnership with Virgin Galactic, Intriq, part of the Virtuoso luxury travel advisors network, is holding media events in Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai to raise awareness and interest in space flights. The events will feature Colin Bennett, astronaut on the inaugural Virgin Galactic flight with Richard Branson.

Yap, who runs Intriq in Singapore, said, “Space travel is a good example of what we stand for at Intriq – exotic, off the beaten path destinations for the discerning, well-heeled traveller – and what could be more exotic and off the beaten than space.”

She added, “I don’t think anyone says, I want to go to space, but we want to introduce this new concept of travel. It is super niche, we are not expecting people to queue up, but we want to put that thought and interest out there.”

So far, without much promotion, it’s sold two seats, priced at $250,000 each, to a couple in Singapore. “There is limited supply of seats, Virgin Galactic’s initial plan is to sell 1,000 tickets and they’ve already sold 700. So there’s only 300 left and they are looking to Asia to raise interest. Right now, the percentage of customers from Asia is low, but there is potential. We have well-heeled, discerning customers in Asia who’ve travelled everywhere and may be looking for new frontiers.”

In January 2024, Virgin Galactic completed its first spaceflight of the year and 11th mission to date. ‘Galactic 06’ flight marked the first time all four seats aboard VSS Unity were occupied by private astronauts.

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