Visa’s recent analysis of global luxury spending patterns, presented at ILTM Cannes, offers the luxury wine trade a crucial mirror: the typical customer profile of a Parisian palace hotel guest is increasingly likely to have a Manila address as a Mayfair one. What makes the Visa analysis particularly instructive for marketers is its breakdown of how different nationalities spend when traveling. This is not a footnote for luxury wine brands; it is a customer map.
One of the first findings in the Visa analysis concerns the elasticity of luxury spending. While the ultra-wealthy still carry outsized profitability weight—particularly in Switzerland, the UAE, and Hong Kong—the growth is coming from the “almost affluent”: the rising middle and upper-middle classes whose spending patterns show remarkable elasticity. As people climb the income ladder, they spend proportionally more on luxury goods, with the strongest enthusiasm often coming from those experiencing their first meaningful step up from subsistence into discretionary spending. The 35-year-old tech entrepreneur in Bangalore earning their first million, the logistics executive in Jakarta discovering fine wine as a status marker, the Manila resident seeking entry into wine culture through curated experiences and accessible premium bottles. These consumers want meaningful luxury at accessible price points—boutique experiences, carefully curated selections, transparent provenance—not necessarily the rarefied extremes of auction-house pricing.
The Visa data also delivers a humbling correction to the influencer-obsessed marketing zeitgeist: Gen X and Boomers still account for the majority of affluent households and, critically, the bulk of actual spending. Yet these generational cohorts are remarkably underrepresented in wine marketing, which has tilted heavily toward Instagram-friendly aesthetics and Gen Z content creators. This represents a profound misallocation of attention. The high-net-worth Gen Xer or Boomer traveling to Napa Valley or Bordeaux is likely the one booking the Michelin-starred restaurant, purchasing bottles for a home cellar, attending tastings with serious intent, and—crucially—spending across the full value chain: education, experiences, and collection-building. They are not snapping photos of wine bottles for social media; they are acquiring knowledge, developing taste, and building legacy collections. Yet the industry’s marketing machinery has largely turned away from these consumers in pursuit of younger demographics that, the data plainly show, are not yet controlling significant wealth.
Two more interesting insights: First, the Visa analysis maps which destinations are ascending and descending in affluent traveler preference. Rising: Guangzhou, Ho Chi Minh City, Johannesburg, Mumbai, Kuala Lumpur, Bogotá. Declining: San Francisco, Milan, Florence, Manchester. The pattern is unmistakable—affluent travelers from emerging markets increasingly choose emerging destinations, creating a secondary circuit of travel and consumption that bypasses traditional historic hubs. Then the Visa presentation highlighted an intriguing correlation: global private investment in artificial intelligence and the PHLX Semiconductor Index track closely with high-income traveler behavior. Tech wealth, particularly among knowledge workers who “can work from anywhere,” represents a new stratum of affluent consumers with specific expectations: robust digital infrastructure, remote-work amenities, and seamless integration of luxury consumption with digital platforms.
Our role at VitaBella is to advise luxury brands and help them adapt to the major changes currently taking place. This VISA analysis is an excellent way to understand where the world is heading when managing luxury brands, including wine. Read this article to learn more about the latest VISA Business & Economic Insights.
Contact Guillaume Jourdan via LinkedIn
