The rich have run out of things to buy. Watches, yachts, handbags — done. According to Simone Gibertoni, chief executive of Swiss wellness brand Clinique La Prairie, the top percentile now wants something harder to acquire: time away from their own lives. "Twenty years ago, affluent consumers were searching for luxury goods," he says. Then came experiences. Now they want to actually switch off — and they'll pay serious money for it.

Thailand is positioning itself to cash in. The country's wellness tourism spending hit US$14 billion (roughly 471 billion baht) in 2024, up 36.4% year on year, per the Global Wellness Institute. Clinique La Prairie is betting on that momentum with its first full-service Southeast Asian resort in Phuket, following its flagship in Montreux and a debut in Beijing. The week-long programme blends medical care, nutrition, wellbeing and movement, all aimed at longevity. Phuket's appeal is obvious: nearly 400 billion baht in tourism revenue in the first nine months of 2026, plus expanding flight links.

Bangkok chef Gaggan Anand, of the acclaimed progressive Indian restaurant Gaggan, frames the shift bluntly: Thailand has moved from budget street-food reputation to a global luxury destination where guests happily spend five-star money. What he thinks sets the city apart from Paris or New York isn't the food alone — it's what he calls the luxury of time. Diners aren't rushed out the door; they're allowed to linger.

Anand practices what he preaches. Phones are banned at his restaurant, a notable stance in a culture where "the phone eats first." One dish, the Som Tum flower, takes five hours to prepare — and nobody will ever post a photo of it. His one caution: oversupply. If he opened a Basque cheesecake shop, he jokes, fifty would follow, and luxury that expands faster than demand risks diluting itself.

For travellers, the takeaway is that Thailand's pitch to wealthy visitors — genuine rest, health-focused programming, unhurried hospitality — trickles down to everyone. A wellness retreat in Phuket or a phone-free tasting menu in Bangkok may be splurge territory, but the underlying promise of feeling genuinely looked after is available at any price point. As Anand puts it, Thai hospitality boils down to "a smile from the heart" — the one luxury that hasn't been commodified yet.

Story sourced from Bangkok Post Life.