Your guide to tour operator news for 2025

AUDLEY TRAVEL

Audley Travel has expanded its offering in the Dolomites for 2025. Packages can be tailor-made with activities such as discovering the craft beer scene of South Tyrolean capital Bolzano with a local beer expert, seeing the ‘Man from the Ice’ in Bolzano’s Archaeological Museum, and visiting a traditional cheese workshop while enjoying the stunning views of Seiser Alm.

Alicia Welsman, Italy product manager, says: “The expansion of our offering is well timed to offer more choice for clients who want to take advantage of the new flight route launched by SkyAlps, cutting travel time down with a flight direct into the Dolomites (Bolzano) from Gatwick, taking approximately two hours.”

EASYJET HOLIDAYS

Following on from easyJet’s route launches to Djerba and Tromso, packages can now be booked to both destinations. Durations for the beachy Tunisian island of Djerba range from three days to 28 days, flying from Manchester and Luton. There are 10 hotels available for Tromso city breaks, flying from Bristol, Gatwick and Manchester, tempting customers with the northern lights, whale watching and incredible scenery.

FRED.HOLIDAYS

Reporting sales of rail holidays increasing 32% year-on-year, Fred.Holidays has bolstered its rail programme with a number of highlights including the new La Dolce Vita Orient Express. This can be packaged in a nine-night Bella Italia: Venice, Florence, Rome & Sorrento by Rail tour. Also new is Dublin and Belfast by Rail and Sea; Prague by Sleeper Train; Vintage Steam Trains of Switzerland; and a Grand Tour of Japan by Rail. The operator also revealed that 30% of all rail bookings have a value of over £5,000, while the most expensive individual rail holiday booking this year was £47,000 for two people.

Explore Worldwide

New introductions for the group tour operator include a two-week Best of Ghana tour, packed with cultural experiences. There’s also a new week-long Walk Northern Ireland and Donegal tour; a 10-day Uganda and Rwanda Gorilla Discovery tour; and a six-day Finnish Lapland Adventure. Two new Chile tours are supported by a four-day Easter Island extension, while a new flight-free Overland Everest Base Camp tour offers a longer route (22 days) to cut out the need for a domestic flight into Lukla airport, widely recognised as one of the world’s most challenging commercial landings. 

Product manager Chris Ellis says: “This is a classic bucket list trek, with an Explore twist – no flights! It’s now possible to travel from Kathmandu and Salleri in the Lower Khumbu Valley by 4WD, allowing visitors to walk through the stunningly beautiful and barely-visited lower valleys before joining the Everest Base Camp trail proper.”

G ADVENTURES

Solo travel champion G Adventures says more than 50% of its global travellers now opt to join small group adventures on their own. A new travel style created exclusively for solo travellers, Solo-ish Adventures, harnesses the power of community tourism for those seeking personal growth, connection and safety as they travel. Solo-ish features 13 adventures, with no upper age limit, in popular destinations such as Costa Rica, India, Peru, Vietnam and South Africa. Another product launch for 2025 is sailing around the Greek islands on G’s new purpose-built yachts (carrying 10 travellers in five double cabins).

Vince Donnelly, director of global sailing at G Adventures, says: “The boats have been fitted with solar panels and state-of-the-art engines and generators that minimise environmental impact without sacrificing performance. This commitment to the environment and spreading tourism dollars to lesser-visited communities on smaller Greek islands really sets the bar high for operators in the region.”

GIC Villa Collection

The Greek villa specialist is expanding its portfolio on the smallest Ionian island, Paxos. They include Villa Forest, a one-bedroom villa with swimming pool, in the hamlet of Makraticka and the clifftop Triton’s Nest, surrounded by olives grows and with sea views across to tiny AntiPaxos.

GOLD MEDAL

Three key new products have been picked out by Deborah Wadhams, head of long-haul product. First up Epic Universe and Helios at Gold Medal’s top-selling Florida destination. “The hotly-anticipated opening of Universal

Epic Universe and the onsite Universal Helio Grand Hotel is high on our Florida agenda for 2025 and we predict continued strong sales into 2025 and beyond,” Wadhams says.

Also on the agenda is the 2025 opening of Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, Dubai, Jumeirah Hotels & Resorts’ latest property. “Certainly one to watch, the property will boast unparalleled views of the Burj Al Arab, Dubai Marina and Jumeirah Beach,” she adds.

And lastly, Gold Medal anticipates Secrets Saint Lucia Resort & Spa opening in January 2025, with its ‘Unlimited-Luxury’ all-inclusive offering, will be popular with customers.

INDUS EXPERIENCES

Indian river cruises are really booming, according to the destination specialist, which is adding Pandaw’s new eight-day Kerala Backwaters cruise, from October 2025. This can be combined with a luxury train journey to cover both Kerala and Rajasthan, two of the most sought-after states for visitors to India.

The specialist operator is seeing more bookings for boutique hotels and villa-style properties throughout India, comments Asiya Zargar, director of marketing. New to the portfolio is the Lodge at Wah, just outside Palumpur, in northern Himachal Pradesh. Zargar says: “The Lodge at Wah is an exquisite homestay escape on an original tea estate. Guests are personally welcomed by the family of Kangra tea planters, who have occupied the property for four generations. It’s a unique opportunity to immerse themselves in Himachali culture, while learning the traditions and science involved in creating a cup of tea.”

INSIDE ASIA

South Korea is Inside Asia’s fastest-growing destination, where there’ll be a new Small Group Tour for 2025, ‘Soul of Korea’, with four departures during the year. The 10-day tour travels by the KTX high-speed rail system from Seoul to Unesco City of Gastronomy Jeonju, seaside Busan and the ancient Silla capital of Gyeongju. India will be a new destination for Inside Asia in 2025, and for Inside Japan, the focus continues to be on easing the increasing issue of overtourism in a few key spots. A Northern Soul tour of Japan in 2025 will for the first time include Kensenuma, an area that was hit hard by the 2011 tsunami but is being revived by community groups in the town.

INSPIRING JOURNEYS

The sister company to AAT Kings has added three new tours for 2025 including the 11-day Kimberley Gorges & Gibb River Road; the seven-day Tasting Tasmania & Flinders Island; and the seven-day South Australia Murray River Cruise & Wine. With an average group size of 16, tours include more off-the-beaten path locations and boutique accommodations.

INSPIRING TRAVEL

There’s lots to talk about in the Caribbean for the operator moving into 2025, with Peter Island reopening in the British Virgin Islands this month, having been closed since Hurricane Irma in 2017; Salterra resort opening in the Turks and Caicos in February; and the debut of design-led Blue Monkey Hotel & Beach Club in Barbados. Club Colony by Elegant Hotels in Barbados is due to reopen in the summer after a major refurbishment, while Sugar Beach, a Viceroy Resort, is adding a spectacular nine-bedroom villa overlooking the Pitons.

Intrepid Travel 

Intrepid has launched four new tours to support its Not Hot List, a report that seeks to address overtourism by inspiring travellers to discover different and unique experiences around the world, with communities that can truly benefit from more visitors. New tours include a 10-day overland Greenland Expedition; a 15-day Benin, Togo and Ghana Adventure, taking travellers to rarely-visited spots like Teshie-Nungua in Ghana where skilled artisans craft elaborate art coffins symbolizing continued passion into the afterlife; an 11-day Trans-Mongolian Railway Adventure, stopping at remote villages along the Gobi Desert, and an 11-day Cape York & Torres Strait Explorer journey to the northernmost tip of Australia. 

Erica Kritikides general manager of global product, says: “Our group size is very small (average of 10 travellers), we only employ local leaders and almost exclusively use locally owned accommodation and suppliers.”