Luxury travel post-Covid-19: Year of the Ox highlights, from a new private island at US$3,280 a night to a view of a super rare eclipse – for US$40,000

For travellers, the Year of the Rat was a write-off. For many of us, there was no boarding of planes, no dream vacation, no ticking-off of an item on a bucket list. Hopes of a post-lockdown “normal” holiday are now pinned on the Year of the Ox.

Whatever travel is possible this year it looks likely to be mostly a “pre-vaccine” year, wherein a certain amount of isolation will be wise. However, there are reasons to get excited about travel this year, with several landmark events, new openings and unique ways to spend big on adventures in Asia and beyond. Here are some highlights.

First quarter 2021 onwards: An ultra-remote private island resort in the Anambas Islands, Indonesia

If you’ve got money to burn, you’re after somewhere you couldn’t have visited in 2020 and are looking for a remote destination, Elang private island might be for you.

The isle is a new and exclusive extension of the Bawah Reserve, part of Indonesia’s remote Anambas Islands, in the South China Sea.

Due to open early this year, the all-inclusive island is the brainchild of Singaporean designer Sim Boon Yang and consists of six cliffside lodges made from recycled natural materials. Each comes with a butler, a balcony and private paths leading into rocky coves and to the sea.

At US$3,280 (HK$25,400) per night, however, this is one for big spenders.

Second quarter onwards: A seaside sanctuary off Phu Quoc island, Vietnam

With an average year-round temperature of about 27 degrees Celsius (80 degrees Fahrenheit) there were few trendier places to head for a beach holiday in pre-coronavirus Asia than Phu Quoc island, off Cambodia’s southern coast (though its busy west coast and Duong Dong’s crowded night market had perhaps lost some of their appeal).