A&K’s Debra Fox & Shawn Johnson Talk Strategy, Structure, & What’s Next for AKTG

Abercrombie & Kent Travel Group (AKTG) has completed a major restructuring, better positioning the company to deliver support to the trade around the globe.

It’s been a several-year process, but AKTG has now unified its global sales organization, bringing together teams across brands and regions under a single, more aligned structure designed to simplify engagement for travel advisors and improve execution across markets.

The company operates several key travel brands in the premium and luxury space, including luxury tour operator Abercrombie & Kent, cruise line Crystal, Galapagos expedition cruise operator Ecoventura, lodges, camps, and riverboats portfolio A&K Sanctuary, and heritage U.K. tour operator Cox & Kings. Following the restructuring of AKTG’s sales teams, travel advisors now have a more streamlined approach to access planning and support across the brand portfolio.

Travel Market Report sat down with Debra Fox, chief sales officer – trade, and Shawn Johnson, senior vice president of national accounts, trade loyalty & events, AKTG Americas, at the AKTG 100 Club event in Chicago in April.

“Strategically, you work under one vision, one plan,” said Fox. “I think it makes it easier for our partners.”

A New AKTG Built to Better Support the Trade

This year’s A&K 100 Club Event in Chicago was the first of its kind. In the past, this event was limited to travel advisors in the U.S. with a focus on the A&K tour brand. New for 2026, the event welcomed international travel advisors from countries like Canada and Australia, and included all of the AKTG brands.

Crystal — or, rather, “Crystal 2.0” — was a major part of the event, and travel advisors listened with interest as AKTG execs described the latest updates coming to the luxury cruise fleet.

“Crystal obviously has evolved significantly… Crystal 2.0 has had hundreds of millions of dollars poured into the ships,” Johnson said. “What we’re hearing from our guests is that they have fond memories of how wonderful Crystal was—and when they finally came back to the new Crystal, it’s better.”

Fox told TMR that expanding the event to international travel advisors and celebrating the entire family of brands was the natural next step for the 100 Club.

The company completed its restructuring over the last year. In August 2025, the company announced that Shawn Johnson and Matias Lira (senior vice president of trade sales – Americas, UK & EMEA for Crystal) would report to chief growth officer Daniel Krupp, and in February 2026, Debra Fox was promoted from managing director to chief sales officer.

“Over the last couple of years, we’ve been going through this global restructure, and this was really the last piece to do—the sales piece,” Fox told TMR. “It is a natural part of… the restructure bringing everyone together.”

Johnson said that the company is now in a better position to offer support to the trade.

“Each of our sales directors are going to be a great first starting point to learn a little bit more about our products… and kind of what each of our brands does,” he explained. “A&K is kind of big and complex and we offer a lot of different things… so our sales directors are really great at breaking that down.”

What’s Next for the Luxury Segment

Both onstage during the general sessions and in her interview with TMR, Fox spoke candidly about the challenges facing the industry right now. With several DMCs that have been impacted by the conflict with Iran, AKTG is feeling the effect of travel disruptions in regions like Jordan and Saudi Arabia.

Soaring oil prices, too, are having a toll, especially on airfare. While the increased cost of airfare is being felt across the travel industry, Fox said the bigger issue is the reduction in routes. AKTG has seen a reduction in service across airlines, which complicates operations.

“The air capacity has dropped so dramatically, it is a bigger issue for access to airlift… availability, pricing, the dates that you want—you have a reduced choice,” explained Fox.

Fox said luxury travelers are largely putting off travel as a result of these global disruptions. Bookings in 2026 have slowed down, but they are seeing unprecedented demand for 2027, which has prompted AKTG’s brands to release product early.

“Since the disruption occurred… 2026 has slowed down… but what people are doing is making that longer-term commitment,” the CSO explained. “We’ve got our product out earlier, which means they can make decisions earlier.”

Although travelers are booking far in advance right now, Fox predicts that once geopolitical tensions ease, there will be an influx of clients looking to book travel right away: “Once they feel a sense of normality… they are going to book and they’re going to book very, very short lead times.”

Despite the challenges, Johnson has an optimistic outlook on the travel industry.

“I think the world is still open… there are so many places in the world that are untouched by what’s going on in the Middle East,” said Johnson. “You can only postpone travel for so long… you can’t postpone forever. You’re going to miss out.”

When it comes to trends, both Fox and Johnson believe there will be growth in key regions. Fox identified Africa, South America, and Asia as the fastest-growing destinations for luxury travel. Johnson also pointed to Asia, pointing to South Korea as a particularly popular option right now.

“South Korea is hot, hot, hot… I would encourage people to talk about sending their clients to South Korea in addition to Japan,” said Johnson.