Not a single “super-expensive” extreme tour has been canceled after the Titan disaster, the death of the bathyscaphe not only did not scare the super-rich from unusual travel, but demand even increased.
This was announced to Insider by the founder of the travel company Brown and Hudson, which also specializes in extreme tours for VIP tourists. Moreover, the company at one time offered tours jointly with OceanGate – the same dive as the Titanic, “Tragedies sometimes cause interest in other areas of extreme travel,” said Philip Brown, founder of the company. He also said that questions about this tragedy were received from tourists, but there was not a single refusal; on the contrary, there was a “noticeable increase” in interest in high-level membership in the company, with some clients starting new discussions of projects.
As he added, his firm collaborated with OceanGate, the organizer of the tragic trip; in doing so, they made the proposed version of the tour “wider and longer” with additional training. But since 2017, three of the company’s clients have been making plans to go to Titan, but all have “dropped out at the last minute,” largely due to scheduling issues.
By the way, some considered such a tour as an investment, hoping to sell their place in the future.
“People who have joined the Titanic waitlist are the same people who are considering going into near space,” Brown said. According to him, the prices, relatively speaking, are similar.
Also, the head of the company of extreme tours for the super-rich assured that for his clients, the desire to travel with adventure and take risks is “a completely normal phenomenon, and accidents will not stop it.”
According to him, the average cost of extreme tours is 130 thousand dollars plus advance payments and taxes. Clients are primarily from North America, but many are also from Brazil, China, India, and the UK.
“They include investment bankers, Palo Alto tech workers, and people who are going to Davos or the Sun Valley conference,” Brown said. They like to “tickle their nerves” with different types of extreme sports – this is heli-skiing, that is, freeride on untouched mountain slopes, traveling to Antarctica and other polar regions, and mountain tourism. And other kinds of extreme sports – for example, the company is currently planning an off-road bike ride to northern Syria for a group of 12 US investment bankers.
“Expeditions and extreme sports have become status symbols among the richest people in the world. When you’re rich enough, you’re not interested in another luxury car or the latest iPhone,” Brown said.
“Bored” in his words and the usual luxury of “luxury” tours.
“If you go to a beautiful hotel with a great view, the day you walk in, you get a dopamine rush, but after three days, the view may suddenly not be as spectacular. At the same time, extreme tours attract attention and allow you to “win the race, do that be the first or tell a cool story to your family or friends,” he explained.