With more people treating their pets like family, the pet travel industry is taking off like never before. This industry was valued at around $2 billion in 2023 and is expected to more than double to $4.6 billion by 2032, according to Polaris Market Research. With this sharp increase in demand, companies are stepping up to make travel more enjoyable for humans and their animal companions — and travel advisors are, too.
Leading the industry in seamless pet travel is Fora, the first travel agency to partner with dog-centric hospitality and aviation brand Bark Air. The exclusive new partnership — announced in September — helps Fora advisors curate a stress-free travel experience for clients and their four-legged friends through comprehensive trip planning and Bark Air’s Companion Concierge service. With pre-flight vet coordination, international paperwork support and curated stays at dog-welcoming hotels, this partnership ensures pets are given the royal travel treatment.
For Fora, the partnership marks an expansion into a market with enormous potential. And Celine Raymond-Kubler, a Fora advisor and owner of Pause Travel, has seen firsthand how the niche market of pet travel is transforming exponentially.
We sat down with Raymond-Kubler to better understand how she helps clients navigate the more difficult aspects of the pet travel experience, and why other advisors may want to consider doing the same for their clients.
How did you start planning travel with pets?
I have been a Fora advisor for the last two years, but I've been a part of hospitality and the tourism/travel space since I was a kid. I moved from New York to Berlin five years ago, and I moved with my two cats, so I had to figure out the logistics of that.
The logistics [of pet travel] are not horrible or complicated, but they can be very daunting when you start the process, and I think the reason why is because the stakes are high. When we're talking about our pets, they're part of our family. Clients want to make sure [advisors are] getting it right. We know that it's already going to be so stressful for [pets], and you're not going to be able to explain to them what's going on. We want to try to remove as much stress as possible, and [advisors] can do that by preparing.
As a Fora advisor, Celine Raymond-Kubler helps her clients and their pets travel effortlessly and efficiently.
Credit: Celine Raymond-Kubler 2025
What do you think is causing an increase in pet travel?
We are recognizing that pets are part of the family. People want to travel with their kids, so why wouldn't they want to travel with their pets? [Some owners] can't imagine going on all these adventures without their pets, so it’s a very natural progression.
What type of trips are most of these clients looking to book?
In terms of my clients, there are two very different kinds of requests. There are much longer trips [where they] are going to Europe for five or six weeks, and because they plan on being gone for so long, they want to bring their pet. The other type is much more local travel. These tend to be people who are traveling with a smaller pet, usually a smaller dog that is used to traveling. They're doing a weekend here, a weekend there. Those are usually people who are only dealing with domestic travel. So, they don't have to worry about all the paperwork that goes with [international travel] and it's very routine for them.
The reality is that there is no last-minute international pet travel; it’s not easy. There is no wiggle room...
What are some of the biggest logistical challenges you have experienced when planning pet travel?
The reality is that there is no last-minute international pet travel; it’s not easy. There is no wiggle room, so if you're planning international travel with your pet, you want to reach out to an advisor, ideally six months before your trip.
To me, the biggest logistical challenge is going to be paperwork for immigration. When it comes to crossing a border, it can be extremely overwhelming and complicated. Honestly, this is where our partnership with Bark Air comes into play. I recently had a client traveling through Europe. We thought that they were going to be okay to enter the U.K. We thought we had crossed our “T’s” and dotted our “I’s.” The problem is that there is so much conflicting information online and information that might be up for interpretation.
So, this is where I ended up calling Bark Air in a panic [and they were] phenomenal. What I love about them — and why this partnership is so relevant to us as advisors and, most importantly, to our clients — is that they have contacts on the ground that we can't possibly have with customs and immigration at different airports.
Tell us a little more about Bark Air’s services and partnership with Fora.
The partnership with Bark Air has two main services. It has flights, and those are particularly helpful for people who are moving with their large pets. Typically, people who have larger pets either have a routine and know what they're doing, or this is the first time that they're traveling with their large pets, and they don't want to put their animal in the [plane’s cargo] hold. Bark offers, essentially, a shared private flight that allows pets. You can also privatize the whole flight if you wanted to.
Second — and this is honestly the part I'm most excited for — is the travel pet concierge services. They will be in communication with me and my clients to make sure that all the documentation, vet appointments [and other arrangements] are all squared away. There is peace of mind that everything will go well, and that you know exactly what to expect. I think the biggest reason why people are anxious when they travel is because they don't know what to expect. The more that [advisors] can paint a picture for travelers, the more reassurance we can offer them, and that's really what I want for my clients who travel with pets.
What is your biggest piece of advice for travel advisors planning pet travel?
Make sure you're being very detail oriented. Just double check or triple check everything because the magnitude it takes on if things go wrong is completely different [from typical trips]. There are so many parallels between infant travel and pet travel. The very specific considerations might be different, but overall, you're dealing with the same anxiety in terms of making sure that the room is appropriate, and all the different details. It's the same kind of logistics.
