It’s The Year of the Three A’s in the Travel Industry

For years, the U.S. travel sales charts have been topped by what many in the industry call “The Three I’s”: Italy, Ireland, and Iceland. But there’s a new trio of hotspots in town these days, and it’s made up of vowels, too. You can just call 2026 “The Year of the Three A’s.”

Sales to Australia, Asia (especially Japan), and Africa are booming, travel advisors report, as high-end travelers finally shake off their COVID-19 concerns and head for the farthest corners of the world.

“It was I’s and now it’s A’s,” says travel advisor Vicki Schaeffer Everhart. “Italy, Iceland, and Ireland are familiar places and close to home. But now people are feeling more confident venturing out and thinking about places that have been on their bucket list.”

The 20 travel advisors with whom she works at Krouse Travel in York, Pennsylvania, have seen growing interest in Japan, thanks in part to a marketing push and lots of Instagram posts, as well as in Africa and Australia, where Everett has recently led a number of Collette Explorations group tours.

Her latest Collette group to Africa, for example, quickly attracted 15 guests after she posted pictures from last year’s trip on Facebook, followed up by a webinar with her Collette BDM.

“People have dreamt about Africa since they were kids, read about it in National Geographic, and now they are thinking it’s something they can actually do,” Everhart says. “And Australia is on everyone’s radar again.”

At Valerie Wilson Travel, Amy Siegal says her experience living in Hong Kong and Tokyo is so useful now, as interest in Asia grows, that she’s going back for the whole month of October to check out new and updated hotels, and meet with suppliers.

“For our high-end clients, luxury is about access and authenticity; they want to feel like they are seeing something new. And the farther we get from COVID, the more they have satisfied their more local needs and want to go farther,” she says. “I like to introduce them to places they have never heard of, never thought of. I’m selling FITs, family groups, and even honeymoons; Africa and Asia are perfect for honeymoons, because the couple has put aside extra money and extra time, and there is so much to see.”

(Indeed, Bruce Mandel of Longwood Travel reports he was amazed this month when his booth at a bridal show attracted 10 soon-to-be-brides interested in honeymoons in Japan.)

And like her customers, Toni Lanotte-Day of Toni Tours Inc. has been waiting for years to visit Japan and Australia.

“I sailed Celebrity Millennium from Japan to Korea just before COVID and loved it, and I have had it sitting on a back burner to roll out as a group trip ever since,” she says. When group space became available two years ago, she grabbed it—and “it seemed right after that, Japan became a hot commodity.” She will sail in September with a sold-out group of 28.

Then in 2028, she heads to Australia, where her search for a unique itinerary brought her to Norwegian Spirit, sailing the western and southern shores from Singapore to Sydney. She again grabbed the space as soon as it became available, and signed up 18 clients within a week. Now she is getting ready to really promote it, and hoping to sell 20 more.

Elana Christiansen at Blue Raven Travel reports selling out two safari groups in less than an hour each through her private Facebook group of 640 members, as well as one to Japan that also sold out “very quickly.”

All A’s Are Not Created Equal

But at Trips & Ships Luxury Travel, CEO Angela Hughes notes that while there is strong interest across the three continents, each is unique in its performance.

Japan is her best-selling destination of the three, in part because of her firsthand knowledge from living there for two years. But Japan’s immersive cultural experiences, exceptional food, and luxury accommodations are the real draws, offering “something completely different from a traditional European vacation,” she says. (And this year, cruise travel, which allows clients to experience multiple regions, is outperforming land-based itineraries.)

Singapore also is generating tremendous interest, both as a destination and as a gateway to broader Southeast Asia that includes Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Japan, she says. Africa is back, after a slowdown earlier this year, with strong last-minute demand for safaris and safari-and-beach combinations. And in Australia, New Zealand combinations, luxury rail journeys, expedition cruising, and longer itineraries that allow travelers to explore the region in depth are selling well.

Handling the Crowds

Some travel advisors offered tips for dealing with requests for the Three A’s. Roe Naccache at Boca Express Travel, whose clients span the spectrum from luxury to midrange, has “numerous bookings” for Japan next year and three more requests on her desk right now. For her, the key to remaining efficient is careful screening. When a request comes in, she immediately offers a prepared sample itinerary and pricing. “Many clients are surprised at the high cost but still push forward,” she says. “And many are booking the cruise itineraries, which are almost sold out well into 2027.”

LBAC Travel in Sayville, New York, is building upon the personal experiences of advisors who have been there by partnering with local experts and DMCs to create fully customizable experiences, says Elizabeth Henn.

It’s all good news for travel advisors, of course.

“These regions punish casual planning,” says Ritu Panesar, founder and president of Travelopod. “A missed charter in East Africa can strand a family for a day. Seasonality operates on rhythms most travelers do not understand: wildlife migration windows in Kenya and Tanzania, monsoon cycles across Southeast Asia, and cherry blossom timing in Japan. Booking the wrong month can create an entirely different experience than what the client envisioned.”

But ah, when things are done right, the reward is sweet for both advisor and client.

“These are the trips clients talk about for years,” Panesar says. “A sunrise game drive where the vehicle is the only one in the conservancy. A private cultural experience in Kyoto arranged through relationships that never appear on a booking platform. A women’s group sharing a sunset camel trek across the Sahara. These experiences require judgment, relationships, and logistics that hold together across distance. They create the kind of loyalty that cannot be replicated from a booking engine.”