The global luxury landscape is shifting. Since the pandemic, consumers have prioritized spending on experiences, like hospitality, live entertainment and travel. This also applies to luxury experiences including high-end wellness resorts, beauty treatments and fitness clubs.
The Mastercard Economics Institute sees three key trends in luxury experiences spending in our anonymized and aggregated payments data:
Luxury consumers are shifting to experiences around the world
Wellness resorts are the strongest contributor to luxury experience spending growth
Consumers are prioritizing wellness year-round, with an exclusive experience for every season
Bottom line, a large cohort of consumers want to treat themselves, and many luxury segments are well-positioned to provide consumers with unique and memorable experiences.
Did you know?
Luxury consumers are shifting to experiences around the world
The chart below shows the shift in spending away from luxury goods (accessories, cosmetics, clothing, jewellery and watches) towards luxury experiences (beauty treatments, fitness experiences and wellness resorts) in 2024. We classify luxury experience merchants by taking merchants that have average transaction values in the top 20th percentile for their industry.
A shift in spending towards luxury experiences is visible across most major markets, including destinations as varied as Australia, Thailand, the UAE and the U.K. Exceptions include Japan, where a weak currency attracted many luxury shoppers from abroad to buy luxury goods at a discount, and Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, where spending on luxury goods has been robust.
Source: Mastercard Economics Institute
Wellness resorts are the strongest contributor to luxury experience spending growth, in line with consumers’ prioritization of wellness since the pandemic. High-end fitness also drove luxury experience spending in markets like Greece, the U.K. and the U.S., while premium beauty treatments outperformed in Australia, the Netherlands and the UAE.
Wellness for all seasons
Consumers are prioritizing wellness year-round. Technological advancements, including remote working and e-commerce, empower consumers to shift when and where they work, shop and self-care. The chart below shows the seasonality of spending on luxury experiences.
On the one hand, high-end hair and beauty treatments are a year-round phenomenon, with an even distribution of spending across seasons. On the other hand, luxury wellness resorts are most popular in the summer months, when they can be incorporated as part of a holiday.
The popularity of wellness resorts in the summer is most visible in major summer tourist destinations like France, Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. Exceptions include Austria, where winter is the most popular season for wellness resorts as consumers mix wellness with skiing, and Thailand, where winter wellness at warm temperatures attracts tourists from colder climates. The seasonality of high-end fitness experiences varies by country, with winter popular in northern Europe, autumn in mediterranean countries and summer in east Asia.
Source: Mastercard Economics Institute
There is no one-size-fits-all story for the luxury sector. But there are clear areas of growth, most notably in luxury wellness, with an exclusive experience for every time of year.
To learn more about economic insights from the Mastercard Economics Institute, contact your Mastercard representative or request a demo.
Notes & Disclaimer
About the Mastercard Economics Institute
The Mastercard Economics Institute provides insights into global and local economic trends using advanced analytics and Mastercard's proprietary data assets. Established in 2020, MEI supports businesses, governments, and policymakers with economic monitoring services and timely analysis on economic themes including consumer spending, retail and travel trends, and other local and global barometers of economic performance. MEI offers valuable perspectives to inform decision-making and promote sustainable growth worldwide through our thought leadership series, and through Mastercard's specialized product offerings.
Disclaimer
© Mastercard International Incorporated. All rights reserved.
This Mastercard Economics Institute presentation (This "Presentation") and content or portions thereof may not be accessed, downloaded, copied, modified, distributed, used or published in any form or media, except as authorized by Mastercard. This presentation and content are intended solely as a research tool for informational purposes and not as investment advice or recommendations for any particular action or investment and should not be relied upon, in whole or in part, as the basis for decision-making or investment purposes. This presentation and content are not guaranteed as to accuracy and are provided on an "as is" basis to authorized users, who review and use this information at their own risk. This presentation and content, including estimated economic forecasts, simulations or scenarios from the Mastercard Economics Institute, do not in any way reflect expectations for (or actual) Mastercard operational or financial performance.
![](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf-8,<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" viewBox="0 0 131.39 86.9"><defs><style>.a{opacity:0;}.b{fill:%23fff;}.c{fill:%23ff5f00;}.d{fill:%23eb001b;}.e{fill:%23f79e1b;}</style></defs><title>Mastercard</title><g class="a"><rect class="b" width="131.39" height="86.9"/></g><rect class="c" x="48.37" y="15.14" width="34.66" height="56.61"/><path class="d" d="M51.94,43.45a35.94,35.94,0,0,1,13.75-28.3,36,36,0,1,0,0,56.61A35.94,35.94,0,0,1,51.94,43.45Z"/><path class="e" d="M120.5,65.76V64.6H121v-.24h-1.19v.24h.47v1.16Zm2.31,0v-1.4h-.36l-.42,1-.42-1h-.36v1.4h.26V64.7l.39.91h.27l.39-.91v1.06Z"/><path class="e" d="M123.94,43.45a36,36,0,0,1-58.25,28.3,36,36,0,0,0,0-56.61,36,36,0,0,1,58.25,28.3Z"/></svg>)