Nearly a century ago, Antonio Mantegazza became enraptured by the passing scenery as he transferred lumber across Switzerland’s Lake Lugano via his family’s rowboat. Inspired by that trip, he bought his own rowboat, and then traded it in for a motorcoach to show visitors the beauty of his country.
Now, his once small business has grown into an empire: The Globus Family of Brands — which comprises Globus and Cosmos tours and Avalon Waterways — was built upon Mantegazza’s dream, and now offers 458 itineraries across 70 countries on six continents.
Fifteen years ago, TravelAge West profiled the company for its 80th birthday. Back then, Steve Born, who is now Globus’ chief marketing officer, commented on the intersection of tradition and innovation: “It’s interesting that a company so grounded on experience and tradition uses it to innovate and continually explore new product experiences,” he said during that 2008 interview.
Now, in 2023, Globus celebrates its 95th anniversary. We caught up with Born to learn more about what’s in the pipeline for the land and river tour company.
Globus has a big birthday coming up. Tell me about the evolution of the company and how it honors its family-owned history and its founder’s ideals, even 95 years later?
That was really the secret to success for thriving over 95 years and managing the ebbs and flows of travel through all that time. We use that history and experience as a platform to move forward, by never settling and saying, ‘We've arrived.’
That's the spirit of this company — we've never arrived. There's always more, and there's always the next opportunity. That’s really been a part of our company's culture for those 95 years. We say, ‘OK, let’s build on where we are today, and use that experience to say, how can we enhance it? How can we take it that next step?’ It's always new, it's always fresh. There's always something around the corner to build from.
How do you keep your finger on the pulse of all the consistently evolving travel trends?
The inspiration always comes from the customer. For us, we have two categories. One is the end traveler. What is our guest of today enjoying, and what's the guest of tomorrow looking at? And how do we solve that problem for them?
The other side of that coin is that we have a partnership with travel advisors. We are connected at the hip in terms of success and business, and [we know] the obstacles that our travel advisors are facing. We are constantly dependent on that feedback and in touch with what those challenges are.
Ultimately, we're less of a tour operator, and more of a problem solver. If people are going to travel with this, what value do we add that solves a problem that they're facing? For advisors, what do we do that makes their life easier and more profitable?
Ultimately, we're less of a tour operator and more of a problem solver … For advisors, what do we do that makes their life easier and more profitable?
Let’s talk about that "traveler of tomorrow." Moving forward, what are you noticing in terms of trends? And how are you developing new products to meet those travelers’ needs?
I see three trends that are top of mind with us in looking at tomorrow's traveler and expanding what exists today in terms of escorted travel and river cruise.
The first is the enduring trend of off-the beaten path travel. So, we've designed a whole series of tours under Globus and Cosmos with the “Undiscovered” theme that we're constantly evolving and expanding.
We have 29 tours that are dedicated to this idea of off-the-beaten path itineraries. Maybe [travelers have] visited a destination, and have loved everything about it, but what's the reason to go back? The itineraries take you beyond the major cities and really into the destinations. That's something that has been, and will continue to be, a priority for us. It's unique in the world of escorted travel. It's tough to find itineraries that are built from the ground up with that idea. To other companies, it's a risk to dedicate an entire product line to that idea, but we're committed to it.
Steve Born, chief marketing officer for the Globus Family of Brands
Credit: 2023 Globus Family of BrandsAnother trend is value. Travel costs are increasing; there's a lot of sensitivity in the short term about the cost of international travel. We package a whole series of [off-season] tours under the style of Escapes by Globus. It takes a primary destination and is up to 40% less than that same itinerary during high season.
And what’s the third trend?
The third trend is flexibility within an itinerary. Guests of all ages have an active choice in their itinerary and what they do. We have a series of 12 Choice Tours under Globus in North America and Europe that are built around the idea of choice. No one offers that extent of flexibility within itineraries because, frankly, it's hard for a tour operator to balance the structure of a tour with flexibility for customers. We are also introducing eight new Choice Tours on May 31.
What are you seeing with Avalon Waterways?
In terms of overall volume, Avalon has recovered and is exceeding 2019 numbers. It shows that the style of river cruising has so much life in it. It’s emerging, and there's a whole new set of reasons following the pandemic to consider river cruises. There's much less risk in terms of trip interruption. We're definitely seeing a very quick return to river cruises and are looking at encouraging numbers already for 2024.
There’s a whole new crop of travel advisors entering the travel industry. How are you setting yourself up to form a strong relationship with them?
We strive to be the go-to [resource] and support for new-to-industry [advisors]. We see what it's like to be new to industry and to be an advisor. Now [they’re] in the business, they’re committed to it, but they need to develop revenue. They need to build their business. Beyond training, what is it specifically that advisors need to build business? Experience. They get to travel with us, and we're committed to that as much as possible.
For us, I'd say the focus is not just education, but it's production. And [figuring out] how can we partner with new-to-industry advisors.
What else is in the pipeline for Globus?
We’ve introduced a new ship and a new destination for Avalon for 2024 with Portugal on the Douro River. She's not finished yet in terms of construction, but her name is the Alegria and that's going to be introduced in 2024.
We also just introduced a set of new itineraries under our Escapes style, including Wales, Finland and a new Sicily-plus-Malta tour.
