Blue Origin offers space tourism, and doomed OceanGate Titan went to the Titanic, but most rich travellers want exclusivity, not risky adventures
- Billionaires Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson went to space, and other wealthy travellers trawled the ocean’s depths in doomed Titan sub. But this isn’t the norm
- Most rich tourists want exclusivity without the risk, preferring pursuits such as luxury safaris, Ferrari test drives or eagle hunting in Mongolia, insiders say
Clad in a blue jumpsuit and dangling from the side of a skyscraper 360 metres above New York, billionaire Richard Branson urged viewers on Twitter last week to live life to the fullest and try new things.
As the founder of space tourism company Virgin Galactic, Branson is among a handful of ultra-wealthy entrepreneurs pushing the limits of exploration and experiences.
Most wealthy people, though, want a less extreme but exclusive experience, according to Wall Street investors, bankers, lawyers and those who sell exotic holidays.
The trips his company offers feature a photographer to record the event and a doctor for immediate first aid.
Geoffrey Kent, founder of 61-year-old luxury tour operator Abercrombie & Kent, spends over a year planning bespoke trips, ranging from safaris in Botswana to Himalayan treks.
For US$250,000 (HK$2 million) to US$300,000 a trip, Kent fields unusual requests, including helping a Saudi prince fulfil his dream of flying a plane onto and off an aircraft carrier.
But Kent says certain modes of travel are too risky.
Goldman Sachs offers its highest net-worth clients trips around the Art Basel fair in Miami, organised by in-house art expert Monica Heslington, who heads the Family Office Art and Collectibles Strategy, according to a source.
Bank of America has established a partnership with luxury travel agency Indagare to cater to people with more than US$50 million in assets.
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Melissa Biggs Bradley, Indagare’s chief executive, expects to have around 1,000 travellers this year.
As entrepreneurs and money managers pursue hobbies – some more dangerous than others – some investors raised concerns about the risks and said they might even pull money if a fund manager, for example, pursued death-defying feats.
Eight years ago, billionaire investor Bill Ackman and his college friend and fellow fund manager Whitney Tilson organised two dozen fund managers and others to participate in a gruelling training camp led by former US Navy Seals.
The men bobbed in wet suits in the cold Pacific Ocean, hurled themselves into surf in boats and performed physical endurance tests on the beach in California, according to several people who went on the trip.
The experience was so demanding that Ackman’s father expressed concern about the intended trip, not for his son but for another fund manager who had signed up to go. All men returned safely.
Tilson and Ackman declined to comment.
One person familiar with that excursion said it probably wouldn’t happen again, in part because it was such a potentially risky undertaking.
