Luxury Tourism, Developing Destinations: Research Review and Trajectories

Abstract

Contemporary tourism scholarship on luxury travel and destinations has largely focused on developed regions and mature destinations. The study of luxury tourism in emerging or developing destinations merits equal scrutiny. An examination of this composite dichotomy of luxury and developing destinations offers new ways of conceptualizing resources utilized, maintained and made available in emerging luxury destinations. There are three parts to this paper: 1) a survey of the literature to better understand the stage and state of luxury tourism in emerging destinations 2) an evaluation of developments and allocation of resources vis-à-vis luxury tourism and 3) identification of a research trajectory for luxury tourism as an emerging area in developing destinations. This study contends that though luxury tourism seemingly stands in an inverse relationship to developing destinations, it is important to understand the nascent stage of growth and challenges as found in existing literature into full circle.

Assessment of Luxury Trains in India: A Case Study of Maharajas’ Express

“…In this case, the required infrastructure for the conduct of luxury tourism (for example, railway tracks) is not at the desired level. Therefore, this study, to some extent, confirms the findings of Thirumaran & Raghav (2017) as infrastructure is important for organizing luxury tourism.…”

“…The train does not worth more than $1k. (Tripadvisor, 2020) Similar to the results of Thirumaran & Raghav (2017), the above reviews suggest the incipient phase of luxury tourism in countries like India. Their study reflects upon the relation between the infrastructure in developing countries and the existence of luxury tourism in such emerging destinations.…”

“…To better understand the experiences and issues of tourists with the Maharajas' Express, reviews from Tripadvisor were used as supporting data (Thirumaran & Raghav, 2017). An excerpt of a review by Elly (pseudonym) from the United Kingdom, who travelled on the Maharajas' Express in November 2019 is given below Almost anyone who has paid $12,000 for a week on a train will tell you it's fantastic.…”

“…While the data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) -Version 25, the statistical techniques applied for analysis included 'Descriptive statistics' (Frequencies and Crosstabs) and 'Tables' (Custom Tables). In addition to this, reviews from Tripadvisor were used as supporting data (Thirumaran & Raghav, 2017) to examine the validity of the identified concerns.…”

Conspicuous non-consumption in tourism: Non-innovation or the innovation of nothing?

“…Individual holidaymaking is often much more than just relaxation, a change of environment and experiencing something new; it is also a symbolic act to demonstrate values to others at home or at the travel destinations (Ateljevic and Doorne, 2003; Correia et al, 2016). Spending money and acquiring lavish goods and services to publicly display wealth is a well-known phenomenon in tourism, and is often labelled ‘luxury tourism’ (Bakker, 2005; Thirumaran and Raghav, 2017). Economic power is a means of either attaining or maintaining a given social status, and the purchase of expensive objects or services that are not strictly necessary gains and increases the attention of others.…”