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Art is now as important an influence on travel choices as food. This is a confirmation of the latest trends report Embark Beyond, a consulting network, which believes that wisdom in all aspects will be one of the hottest tourism drivers this year.
Art festivals, cities with art scenes, art shopping trips and visits to artist studios are among the most sought-after experiences the network is finding. Destinations with a good art scene, the report says, are “getting attention from jet setters and culturati.”
Laura Worth, a consultant at Embark Beyond, whose agency is called Art & Travel, has worked for a number of years at Christie’s auction house in New York, and has an extensive art background herself. She sees art and sees her journey as a “marriage of two worlds that I love.”
Her Houston-based agency, Worth said, creates high-end personal programs tailored to the individual client. Groups, institutions or individuals come to her and she prepares a programme. Or she might create a trip just because she wants to – act as a tour guide.
Her clients, Worth said, have a commitment to time and income, and an interest in art, architecture and design. And you don’t just want to go to the famous museum in town. They’re looking for private collections, artist studios, and architecture tours—just as “meals” with chefs are looking for private meals, cooking classes, and special tastings at wineries.
And Worth is combining art with what she calls “cultural expressions.” An upcoming trip to Japan will include tea ceremonies because, Worth said, she defines art in terms of cultural expression, and that includes, yes, food.
A relationship with Embark Beyond allowed Worth to grow her business in a different way while being independent for a long time. Now she knows her hospitality partners very well “and they absolutely eat a trip like this. Hotels have asked you to help them with arts programming because of the value they see in arts programming.
Additionally, through her connections to the consultant network, she can find clients who are looking for an art-focused tour and a beach vacation in the Maldives on their next trip. As a result, the agency’s business grew rapidly.
Like other high-profile consultants, Worth’s ability to navigate hard-to-reach experiences is key — experiences like Vermeer’s, which is one of the year’s best tickets at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam.
And despite working with many art collectors, Worth says it’s been “pretty humbling” to avoid being seen as busy in the past two years. Museums have never been so packed, Worth said, especially with younger visitors and it’s all education-driven.
And the rewards can be many. One of Worth’s clients, despite having a great job, hesitated to stay in a $6,000-a-night suite at a luxury resort outside Athens. When they were told there was a work done in the collection of renowned artist James Turrell, they booked a place.
Other mentors, especially her colleagues at Embark Beyond, Worth, are reaching out to her to ask how they can grow their arts specialty.
And of course, there are other advisors who see the power of art in travel. Deborah Director, with SmartFlyer, Art is a big driver of travel choices, especially in destinations like Miami, where Art Basel has become an annual tradition bringing in travelers from all over the world. Preferred partnerships with several hotels in Miami allow insider access to arts festivals that are popular with patrons.
SmartFlyer has relationships with tour operators in art-based markets, the director said, adding that choosing the best partner to help plan travel depends on the client’s preferences or the purpose of the trip, whether it’s a specific scouting trip or more. “Partnerships are the key to finding clients on a solo basis,” she says. Client profiles are broad, the director said, and include collectors, developers, designers, fashion industry executives, technology industry executives and art enthusiasts.
Linda Sergeant of In the Now Experience, part of the Global Travel Group, says that art is usually a secondary focus for her clients, “but when they realize how exclusive access and authentic guidance can engage them and their families, they love the experience.”
With each pre-trip “discovery call,” said Sargeant, “we enter our service, including our ability to have unique and once-in-a-lifetime experiences. Museums and art will always remain an important part of our conversation in every country.
A regular customer was looking to visit the Sistine Chapel, but all the times were booked. The sergeant’s last appointment on Italian soil was the special Clavigero tour, which included opening the Vatican doors with each of the special keys. Before other visitors arrive, customers open the doors and turn on their lights to the chapel and St. Peter’s Basilica – “a truly unique, once-in-a-lifetime experience…priceless.”
Tour of the Sistine Chapel (Photo Credit: Tawk)
Art on tour
Tour operators also recognize the potential of selling art. Jeremy Palmer, COO at Tauck, Art has always been of great interest to guests, who have a genuine desire to learn about the history and culture of the places they visit. Accordingly, he says, “We have long emphasized the immersion of the entire local culture for art in our journey.”
“We recognize that art is much more than sculptures or paintings on canvas, and we focus on many aspects.” For example, the operator explores architectural styles and walks through the historic heart of many. Cities.
Tauc also offers private tours of the artwork on the ceiling of the baroque library of Strahov Monastery in Prague. In each of these cases, Palmer says, “we’re paying attention to the art, even if it’s not in the most imaginative way.”
Palmer said the operator’s unique “insider” offerings, which help Tauck sell special tours, allow guests to experience some of the world’s wonders without the crowds and hassle. Guests, Palmer said, really appreciate the after-hours experience at the Louvre in Paris and the Uffizi galleries in Florence, as well as Claude Monet’s home and gardens in Giverny, France.
“Anyone can put you in front of a famous painting, but a truly enriching and engaging experience requires more,” Palmer says. That’s why Talk brings guests to artists’ homes and studios to learn about their lives, like Claude Monet’s house and gardens in Giverny or Paul Cézanne’s studio in Aix, Provence. Why select departure tours in Provence include presentations by an impressionist and a Van Gogh specialist, and why the operator includes a briefing by a Florence art history teacher before travelers visit the Galleria della Accademia.
Even guests who don’t consider themselves true aficionados enjoy learning about art, Palmer said. For example, the operator offers a scavenger hunt at the Louvre on Tauck Bridges family tours, which are popular with children. Palmer also said that guests on the “Wonderland: Yellowstone in Winter” tour won’t just go on a trip to see paintings and sculptures, but will really enjoy the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Jackson, Wyoming.
Photo: Mona Lisa at the Louvre, Paris, France. (Photo by Eric Bowman)
Appropriate art
Many luxury and boutique hotels have made it an art center. According to the director, art plays an important role in developing hotel options. For example, Ellerman House Hotel in Cape Town, South Africa has only 13 rooms and more than 1000 works of art, she said. Some hotels offer an artist-in-residence program that provides an immersive and unique experience for customers, she said.
Opening in 2021, the 114-room property is inspired by the Bauhaus art movement and houses art collections from many famous artists, said Jack Sitt, director of Tor Equities Group, which operates ModernHaus SoHo.
The property, according to Sitt, “serves as an extension of the area’s venerable space as a creative hub, its imaginative and artistic spirit.” “Art has always been his interest, so it serves not only as a natural fit, but also as another convenience for guests.
Travelers today are aesthetic in mind, she said, so it’s not uncommon for guests to stay because of art. The hotel highlights art in everything it does, right down to its name, David Hockney’s artist portrait and most notably the exclusive Madapi (clothing label) hats featuring the brand’s campaign.
On the campaign, Sit said, “We knew we wanted something unique that resonated with the hotel’s DNA and gave a ‘modern’ update to the hotel’s public spaces, creating scenes from iconic paintings that everyone knows.
Art brings a destination to life and adds an extra reason to visit, says Madison Kent, director of marketing and public relations for Grand America Hotels and Resorts, which owns several luxury hotels and resorts in the western US. To go to something unlike any place you’ve been before.
Art-focused hotels provide an audience with an interest in culture and history and add a unique element to the property that cannot be replicated when they have the opportunity to have a new perspective.
Art is chosen for a hotel, Kent says, based on the larger story it tells or the story the property wants to reflect. The art at The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City was hand-picked from the same time the property was built and designed. With the focused goal of providing a one-of-a-kind luxury hotel in the heart of the city for the 2002 Winter Olympics, art is an integral part of the property’s original mission.
Similarly, the Westgate Hotel in San Diego, whose design was primarily inspired by the Palace of Versailles in France, houses a stunning collection of European art and antiques to fulfill its mission of bringing European sophistication to the California coast.
The Grand America Hotel now offers self-guided tours of its art collection on its website. While measuring the Art Tour website is one way for the hotel to measure the impact of the Art Tour on the guest experience, the hotel plans to develop a new digitally-led experience “that will improve guest accessibility. It provides many tools to measure the impact of the art tour for the art and the hotel.
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