Luxury Travel Continues to Surge Even as Budget Travel Starts to Pull Back

While everyday consumers are beginning to pull back on some spending, high-net-worth travelers are accelerating their investments in high-end, bucket-list travel.

That’s according to the new Squaremouth Travel Insurance Trends Report: Q3 2026, release this week, which shows a two distinct markets now fully formed in travel.

According to the data, insured trips costing $30,000 or more are up by 27.2% year-over-year in the third quarter—more than double the growth rate of total insured trips overall. Insured trips under $10,000, on the other hand, declined by 2.3% over the same period, signaling that cost-conscious travelers may be feeling the pinch and starting to scale back.

A lot of that growth in the luxury space came from African safaris, where average prepaid trip costs ranged from $24,000 to $37,000. Major safari destinations posted massive year-over-year growth in insured bookings, led by Rwanda (+33.3% at an average trip cost of $37,005), South Africa (+23.4% at $25,198), Kenya (+17.6% at $24,156), and Tanzania (+8.9% at $24,517).

Record-Low Hurricane Season Spurs Caribbean Rebound

On the flip side of the seasonal trends, an unusually quiet Atlantic hurricane season—courtesy of an expected Super El Niño—has helped the Caribbean’s summer season, driving an approximate 18% year-over-year bump in insured trips to the region as travelers capitalize on traditionally lower fall prices, according to the data.

Destinations like Puerto Rico (+50.0%) and Curaçao (+38.8%) saw massive gains, but as Squaremouth’s leadership points out, advisors should remind clients that the tropics remain active; locking in comprehensive storm coverage early is essential before a system officially receives a name and standard protection windows slam shut.