It's not only those travelling for several weeks or months who are now looking for more comforts.

Such has been the demand in Ireland in the last two years at Dublin's John Cassidy Travel for exclusive short-term holidays, that it has this year launched a new brochure called Classic Resorts Worldwide.

These are holidays on the other side of the stratosphere from a budget fortnight in Majorca: "The average spend is €12,000 a head for a 10-day trip," says Brian McCarthy, Classic Resorts' product manager. "It's not unusual for it to go to €25,000 a head," director John Spollen adds.

"We use only exclusive resorts worldwide and it's first-class travel all the way - flights, private helicopter transfers, spas, butler service - the lot. There is an increasing awareness of what you can get, and there is a demand for it in Ireland. There are people who want only the best of everything - secluded private beaches, top-class service, and private transfers."

The most expensive hotel in their brochure is Dubai's Burj Al Arab, the world's tallest hotel, and designed in the shape of an Arabian dhow sail. It costs $35 just to come in and have a look around the foyer. To stay there for a week would set you back €4,500 per person. "These kind of hotels are full year-round," says McCarthy.

Mauritius, the Seychelles, the Maldives and southern Africa are among the most popular destinations. At the Maldives, accessible only by seaplane, you can stay at the Hilton Resort and Spa. This is a series of stilted villas built on the atoll, where you can have both 24-hour butler service and glass-floored living rooms, enabling you to admire the pristine waters of the atoll underfoot at all times, even while watching satellite TV and quaffing champagne. That costs about €3,169 a week per person - and is not the most expensive resort of its type.

So who are the people taking these kinds of extraordinarily upmarket holidays? According to Spollen, there is a core base of some 2,000 people in Ireland who go on this kind of holidays every year. In addition, there would be a few honeymooners, but they're in the minority. Two weeks is the average trip, but three is not unusual.

The new brochure, the company explains, is a response to existing demand, and they expect to build the business.

"We have a fair number of millionaires in Ireland," Spollen points out.

Given all this, there is something cheering about the small print at the back of the brochure. Under "Accommodation" it reads: "As many of the hotels featured in our brochure are located in tropical climates, unfortunately, insects in rooms are inevitable. This should not be taken as a sign of uncleanliness, more a fact of life." In other words, no matter how much money you have, you still have to put up with the mosquitoes, just like the rest of us.