Millionaires Are Moving to These Countries in Droves

The global migration of high-net-worth individuals has expanded this year, with Australia returning as the top migration destination, according to a report Tuesday from Henley & Partners.

Approximately 120,000 of the world’s millionaires moved to a new country in 2023, according to the consultancy firm, which specializes in residence and citizenship by investment. That’s up from 84,000 in 2022 and expected to rise to 128,000 in 2024, the data showed.

Safety, a lower cost of living, favorable tax regimes and a high quality of life are top reasons for high-net-worth individuals to migrate. The top five destinations for high-net-worth individual migration this year include Australia, the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, the U.S. and Switzerland, according to the report, which defines high-net-worth individuals as those with US$1 million or more of investable wealth.

Meanwhile, China, India, the U.K., Russia and Brazil lead the ranking of countries with the most people leaving for other shores.

Roughly 82,000 high-net-worth individuals moved to Australia between 2002 and 2022, with another 5,200 arriving this year, the data showed. The country was also in the top spot between 2015 and 2019.

“Australia consistently attracts sizable numbers of millionaires every year, mainly from Asia and Africa, but more recently also from high-income countries such as the U.K.,” according to Andrew Amoils, head of research at New World Wealth, which teamed up with Henley & Partners for the report.

The country’s beautiful beaches and wide-open spaces, a high quality of life and an advanced economy, as well as good healthcare and education opportunities, make it a top pick, Amoils added.

Migration to the U.A.E. in 2023 was one of the highest on record, with around 4,500 millionaires moving there.

“Pre-pandemic, the U.A.E. traditionally saw net inflows of around 1,000 high-net-worths per year,” the report said. “Most incoming millionaires in 2023 are expected to come from India, with large numbers also coming from the U.K., Russia, Lebanon, Pakistan, Turkey, Egypt, South Africa, Nigeria, Hong Kong and China.”

Dubai has been a clear beneficiary of this trend, with home prices in the city rising nearly 20% annually in the third quarter, according to Knight Frank.

Singapore was the Asian city that saw the most millionaires move in last year, while the U.S. saw a steady stream of new residents migrate from Asia. Switzerland remains Europe’s top wealth hub and attracts new residents because of that, the report said.

This article originally appeared on Mansion Global.

Many luxury hotels only build on their gilded reputations with each passing decade. But others are less fortunate. Here are five long-gone grandes dames that fell from grace—and one that persists, but in a significantly diminished form.

The Proto-Marmont |

The Garden of Allah, Los Angeles

A magnet for celebrities, the Garden of Allah was once the scene-making equivalent of today’s Chateau Marmont. Frank Sinatra and Ava Gardner’s affair allegedly started there and Humphrey Bogart lived in one of its bungalows for a time.

Crimean expat Alla Nazimova leased a grand home in Hollywood after World War I, but soon turned it into a hotel, where she prioritised glamorous clientele. Others risked being ejected by guards and a fearsome dog dubbed the Hound of the Baskervilles. Demolished in the 1950s, the site’s now a parking lot.

The Failed Follow-Up |

Hotel Astor, New York City

The Astor family hoped to repeat their success when they opened this sequel to their megahit Waldorf Astoria hotel in 1904. It became an anchor of the nascent Theater District, buzzy (and naughty) enough to inspire Cole Porter to write in “High Society”: “Have you heard that Mimsie Starr…got pinched in the Astor Bar?”

That bar soon gained another reputation. “Gentlemen who preferred the company of other gentlemen would meet in a certain section of the bar,” said travel expert Henry Harteveldt of consulting firm Atmosphere Research. By the 1960s, the hotel had lost its lustre and was demolished; the 54-storey One Astor Plaza skyscraper was built in its place.

The Island Playground |

Santa Carolina Hotel, Bazaruto Archipelago, Mozambique

In the 1950s, colonial officers around Africa treated Mozambique as an off-duty playground. They flocked, in particular, to the Santa Carolina, a five-star hotel on a gorgeous archipelago off the country’s southern coast.

Run by a Portuguese businessman and his wife, the resort included an airstrip that ferried visitors in and out. Ask locals why the place was eventually reduced to rubble, and some whisper that the couple were cursed—and that’s why no one wanted to take over when the business collapsed in the ’70s. Today, seeing the abandoned, crumbled ruins and murals bleached by the sun, it’s hard to dismiss their superstitions entirely.

The Tourism Gimmick |

Bali Hai Raiatea, French Polynesia

The overwater bungalow, a shorthand for barefoot luxury around the world, began in French Polynesia—but not with the locals. Instead, it was a marketing gimmick cooked up by a trio of rascally Americans. They moved to French Polynesia in the late 1950s, and soon tried to capitalise on the newly built international airport and a looming tourism boom.

That proved difficult because their five-room hotel on the island of Raiatea lacked a beach. They devised a fix: building rooms on pontoons above the water. They were an instant phenomenon, spreading around the islands and the world—per fan site OverwaterBungalows.net , there are now more than 9,000 worldwide, from the Maldives to Mexico. That first property, though, is no more.

The New England Holdout |

Poland Springs Resort, Poland, Maine

The Ricker family started out as innkeepers, running a stagecoach stop in Maine in the 1790s. When Hiram Ricker took over the operation, the family expanded into the business by which it would make its fortune: water. Thanks to savvy marketing, by the 1870s, doctors were prescribing Poland Spring mineral water and die-hards were making pilgrimages to the source.

The Rickers opened the Poland Spring House in 1876, and eventually expanded it to include one of the earliest resort-based golf courses in the country, a barber shop, dance studio and music hall. By the turn of the century, it was among the most glamorous resort complexes in New England.

Mismanagement eventually forced its sale in 1962, and both the water operation and hospitality holdings went through several owners and operators. While the water venture retains its prominence, the hotel has weathered less well, becoming a pleasant—but far from luxurious—mid-market resort. Former NYU hospitality professor Bjorn Hanson says attempts at upgrading over the decades have been futile. “I was a consultant to a developer in the 1970s to return the resort to its ‘former glory,’ but it never happened.”