Cory McGillivray, senior director of sales operations and channel marketing for the Globus family of brands, called 2025 the company's "year of the travel advisor." In keeping with that theme, the company last month launched the first of many in-person training initiatives for advisors this year. During the Tour Director/Cruise Director Road Show near New York City, Globus provided insight into its offerings, and senior editor Brinley Hineman sat down with McGillivray to talk about the experience and what lies ahead for Globus.
Cory McGillivray
Q: How did Globus develop the idea for a roadshow?
A: We go on a premise that advisors sell what they know and they sell what they love. We know that not every advisor is going to take a fam trip; they don't have the time, they're too busy. So let's bring it to them. There's been a refocus on the importance of the advisor. This is a good example of exactly that: bringing the experience to their backyard, paying to have tour directors join us, do roadshows and hit 100 cities. To reach 8,000 advisors in five weeks is something to be proud of.
Q: I imagine this was a costly investment. How will you gauge its success?
A: Part of my job is sales, operations and analytics. What we're doing is we're tracking advisors who have attended this show. What does their production look like in the same time frame post-show? There's no doubt that there's a financial expectation for us to increase revenue, increase bookings. But at the end of the day, I think the more important piece is being a good partner, being an advocate for the advisors. That, to me, is priceless, and I think that it defines success more than whatever the production looks like afterward.
Q: What trends are you seeing in your land tours?
A: First, small is big. Second, this idea of personalization and choice. We have statistics that say about 70% of our clients want some flexibility in their itinerary. Over 90% want a choice of excursions. And third, our demand for Italy. It's the year of the Jubilee, which can go both directions: It's either, "We want to go to Italy this year," or, "There's going to be 30 million people in Italy, I don't want to go." If you have someone looking to go this summer, and it's not Jubilee-specific, they're going to have to work with an escorted operator. We have the space, the access and the guaranteed departures. Globus specifically has over 33 different itineraries for Italy, spanning over 90 cities.
Q: What about on the rivers with Avalon?
A: We're about 75% sold for 2025, which is fantastic. We've seen a big uptick in people looking to go longer than just a week. ... I would say the sweet spot of nine to 12 days is where we've seen an uptick in demand. Solo travel has become increasingly popular on rivers. One thing that has arisen for us, that we were surprised about, is a large interest in harvest-time wine cruising. That late-fall time where they're actually harvesting the grapes to make the wine has increased in popularity for us. That's new to us for 2025, to fill that gap before Christmas market cruises begin.
Q: So you're offering more cruising opportunities in what has traditionally been the offseason?
A: Usually we would have that chunk of downtime before Christmas markets would kick up after the Thanksgiving holiday. But now we'll be operating September through then, with a focus on the harvest regions for wine. When you have a certain capacity and then you have the demand, how do you find opportunities to take care of that demand? We have people who want to cruise in the shorter season, so let's find an opportunity. We've increased our frequency and kept more ships in service longer to accommodate that demand.