But this actually happened — a high-end travel club initiated by 19 elite entrepreneurs including Alibaba Group Chairman Jack Ma and Giant Network Chairman Shi Yuzhu has successfully organized a series of similar travel events. However, the threshold for joining is also very high; membership is only granted upon receiving joint recommendations from at least two of them.
Contemporary high-end tourism is built upon travel with clear objectives, profound significance, and well-organized execution. Simply put, brand is the spirit, uniqueness is the soul, taste is the foundation, quality is the root, and excellence is the essence. Unlike mass tourism in the broad sense, high-end tourism carries more social and business value, which is precisely where its charm lies.
The growth of the "high-net-worth" population faces a shortage of high-end tourism talent
With economic development, the "high-net-worth" class — individuals with assets exceeding 6 million yuan and annual consumption over 1.5 million yuan — has emerged rapidly. The 2012 China High-Net-Worth Population Consumption Demand White Paper released by Hurun Report shows that this group has reached 2.7 million people. Among them, over 60% of high-net-worth individuals have expressed strong willingness to spend on travel, which is sufficient to support a vast high-end tourism market.
"The drinker’s heart is not in the cup, but in the landscape between the mountains and rivers." The high-net-worth group views travel as a bridge for networking and advancing business. Traditional tourism programs tend to be formulaic, lacking novelty and unable to carry more social and business attributes. The tourism industry urgently needs to cultivate high-end tourism management professionals to achieve comprehensive service upgrades. Unfortunately, there is currently no systematic domestic academic education in this field, nor truly professional high-end tourism planners.
High-end tourism management professionals uncover boundless opportunities through travel
The shortage of talent also means opportunity. To achieve steady development of China’s high-end tourism market, the International College of Renmin University of China took the lead in collaborating with France's Rouen Business School to jointly launch the international Master’s degree program in Tourism & Services Luxury. Leveraging France’s historical and cultural heritage as a global tourism and cultural powerhouse, the program aims to nurture new talents with cross-cultural, multilingual abilities, international perspectives, and cultural sophistication.
Located by the Seine River, Rouen Business School is the second elite business school in France. The historic city of Rouen, steeped in traditional culture and adjacent to Paris, the heart of France, is home to one of the few business schools in the world to hold all three major accreditations: AACSB (Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business), AMBA (Association of MBAs), and EQUIS (EFMD Quality Improvement System). Boasting an outstanding faculty and top-tier European teaching resources, and backed by the economic and cultural hub of Europe, the school offers advanced "experiential learning" — including participation in elite industry salons and internships at entrepreneur clubs — helping students quickly master cutting-edge global business skills and creative concepts.
With the growth of the domestic economy, the high-net-worth population is expanding, and the demand for high-end tourism will continue to rise. Two years of studying in France will prepare graduates with a Master’s degree in International High-End Tourism Management to enter a market full of potential. Opportunities await in private premium custom travel, international high-end tourism product development and management, cross-cultural management strategies for five-star and above hotels… Numerous bright and high-level career paths are wide open.
This not only means a handsome salary that peers envy and vast space for realizing ambitions, but also invaluable networking resources gained through extensive interaction with business elites and high-end intellectuals, becoming a force that transforms life opportunities.