Image: boardingarea.com
A luxurious 66-day around-the-world tour costing $104,654 has sold out in China just 13 seconds after the reservation hotline opened. The tour is organized by Ctrip.com, one of China’s largest online travel agencies and will take in more than 12 countries and both poles.
While news about Chinese consumers enjoying luxury items is no surprise, the speed at which this tour sold out certainly is shocking, not to mention the price of the trip, which according to CNN is about eight to 10 times the annual salary of an average Chinese.
Though the around-the-world tour actually sold out in June 2011, it has taken nearly six months to finalize all of the visa applications. The winners finally set off on their adventure on January 29, 2012, with 30 hopefuls standing on the sidelines just incase a traveler dropped out at the last minute.
The first 11 individuals to call on the day of the sale were selected for the 66-day tour, which will be led by Hong Kong-born trilingual tour guide, Thomas Lee. The first stop will be to Australia, followed by a 24-day tour through South America including a cruise from Ushuaia to Antarctica.
Next the travelers will head through North Africa and Europe where they will get on board another cruise for a 10-day excursion in the Mediterranean, visit Paris and see Finland. The final week of the tour will be in Dubai, India and Hong Kong. They will return home on April 13.
The bonus? All 11 travelers will be flying business class for most of the trip and will be staying in some of the most luxurious hotels around the world, including the Burj Al Arab in Dubai.
The director of overseas travel for Ctrip, Yu Lan, said, “Chinese tourists have long been interested in traveling abroad, but now they want more enriched and varied experiences in different continents instead of just settling on one or two places.
Ctrip is reportedly already planning the next around-the-world tour for 2013, which the company is hoping to double the headcount for. Applications for the next tour will be open in March.
Source: Luxury Launches
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