A shift away from Europe is already beginning to be witnessed by Globus family of brands (GFOB), with managing director Chris Hall revealing two of the company’s top three destinations for last month were in other parts of the world.
While the United Kingdom and Ireland were still the second-most popular destinations in Mar, Canada filled the top slot, followed by Japan in third.
Hall said the company has been closely tracking trending destinations since the outbreak of the Iran war to see how the market responds.
“We were looking for indicators as to where we should swing our focus if we need to kind of pare back a little bit on Europe,” Hall told travelBulletin.
“Japan has gone crazy, [and] it’s typically not our type of touring destination from ANZ, but we have seen that spike over the last month.”
“I think we also have opportunity with Africa and South America, and Asia and Southern Hemisphere products.”
All of GFOB’s tours for next year are on sale too, Hall noted, adding his hopes that those travellers putting off 2026 plans will unfold in 2027.
Other trends GFOB has noticed include travellers pushing dates to the margins of the season, particularly as airfares become more expensive.
“There’s definitely been what we call a ‘stretch’, with the shoulders of the season becoming nearly equal to the peaks,” Hall explained.
“That’s also driven by air capacity, airfare pricing, and also around events and themes.
“I do think there’s more opportunity in the offseason or the colder times…more people understand the different experience you have in the off-season and not being part of the tourist crowd, but being more part of the local vibe,” he said.
Hall added some travellers are even organically pivoting to the Globus brands’ Escapes portfolio – typically promoted to Northern Hemisphere winter travellers – in an effort to capitalise on ideal timing and budgeting.
“There’s a natural kind of skew happening, even without us promoting it – agents are finding it, consumers are finding it, just because of the dates,” the GFOB boss added.
