Luxury Travelers Give Peace A Chance, Agents Say

by Richard D'Ambrosio October 26, 2016

Iceland is the world’s most peaceful nation, according to the Global Peace Index.

At a time when health scares, natural disasters and global strife have impacted many travelers’ desire to visit certain destinations, some agents are seeing luxury travelers retreat to nations noted for stability and peace.

Earlier this year, Travel Leaders Group surveyed its luxury agents about the most popular destinations in the world and found that some of them are also rated the most peaceful on the Global Peace Index (GPI).

New Zealand ranked the highest, with 32.3% of its agents saying their customers had a “high interest” in visiting the Pacific island nation. Iceland, the world’s most peaceful nation, according to the GPI, had the second highest level of interest (27.7), while Portugal ranked third (14.1%).

When a high level of interest and “some interest” are added together, New Zealand remains the number one destination, while Switzerland (GPI’s seventh most peaceful nation) displaces Iceland as second most popular destination Travel Leaders Group’s luxury clients want to visit.

The second and third most peaceful nations on the GPI, Denmark and Austria, ranked very low on Travel Leader’s destination survey. Slovenia, the #10 most peaceful nation, rated the lowest.

Global Peace Index Ranking	Have a high level of interest in visiting	Have a high level or some interest in visiting
Iceland 1.192	27.7%	83.3%
Denmark 1.246	6.6%	64.6%
Austria 1.278	9.7%	63.9%
New Zealand 1.287	32.3%	89.7%
Portugal 1.356	14.1%	76.0%
Czech Republic 1.360	12.9%	65.2%
Switzerland 1.370	13.2%	83.6%
Canada 1.388	12.4%	74.3%
Japan 1.395	12.4%	68.7%
Slovenia 1.40	2.2%	27.5%

Travel Leaders Group CEO Ninan Chacko wondered whether the correlations for some nations might indicate a sales opportunity for travel agents.

“By comparing the top-performing countries from the Global Peace Index with our luxury travelers’ interests, we were hoping to gauge whether there is any symmetry between the two,” Chacko said. “And we discovered that in several cases, symbiotic relationships have been developed that could significantly shape our industry in the years to come.

“These particular 10 countries—which have long been a part of our overall, comprehensive list of top destinations for American travelers —may experience unprecedented growth in traveler appeal. That’s clearly been the case with Iceland, and, by all indications, New Zealand is on the cusp.”