Time flies in the world of travel and here we are, celebrating nine years of selling European vacations at Goway. For over 50 years, we’ve been one of North America’s leading travel companies. We’ve always sold vacations worldwide, with a particular expertise in travel to Australia and the South Pacific, but we didn’t always sell trips to Europe. However, things changed over time and we’re now experts in the European travel market with over 400 vacations to 44 destinations across Europe.
We didn’t get here by accident though. Our growth is a result of hard work, careful planning, and a cunning pivot during a regional crisis. Read on to learn more about our journey to becoming the Destination Specialists in tailor-made travel to Europe. You can learn more about our vacations to Europe by visiting our website.
How It Started
Back in the early 1970s, we actually did sell trips to Europe. As a travel company, Goway was focused on adventure travel for people 30 years old and younger. Our first European travel brochures were titled “Be a Young European This Summer.” This was at a time when printed goods were often printed in only two colours: orange and black. The featured trips were camping tours that took young travellers across Europe. Participants were even expected to take turns cooking their meals on these vacations!
Over the years, Goway’s turned its travel priorities to Australia and the South Pacific, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and Latin America. However, in 2014, the travel world was rocked by a viral outbreak—albeit one that looks a little smaller in scale in the wake of COVID-19. An ebola outbreak hit West Africa. While it was localized to destinations we didn’t sell and was thousands of kilometres away from the places we did offer trips to, travellers cancelled in droves, citing fear of ebola as the reason they bailed on their African travel plans.
Since we were already selling African and Middle Eastern countries along the Mediterranean, such as Morocco, Egypt, Türkiye, Israel, and Jordan, we redeployed our African Destination Specialists to sell European destinations along the Mediterranean. Soon enough, it made sense to develop a full European travel program that included the rest of Europe too. Our UK & Europe division was born and we haven’t looked back.
How It’s Going
For the past nine years, we’ve grown our European product line to be one of the cornerstones of our business. We have a team of 13 dedicated Destination Specialists who specialize in customized vacations to 44 destinations across Europe. Like all of our travel products, every single Goway vacation to Europe is customized to the specific needs of the individual traveller. However, we do feature many sample itineraries on our website, which include everything from foodie vacations in Barcelona to sled-dogging and watching Northern Lights in Finnish Lapland.
We’re particularly adept at seamlessly combining multiple forms of travel across Europe; you’ll find everything from train vacations to ferry transfers to river cruises with Goway, as well as city stopovers and flights across multiple countries. We also feature a wide array of private and small group tours, which offer globetrotters the option to travel the way they choose. All of our tours incorporate different travel interests, from food tours to bike tours, city tours to cooking classes, cultural encounters to hiking trips. We also focus on designing trips that allow travellers to stay longer and explore more. That way, our travellers can really dig into a region and experience a destination as if they lived there year-round.
What Are Goway’s Top-Selling European Destinations?
At Goway, our top selling destinations in Europe are Italy, Greece, France, England, Scotland, Ireland, and Portugal. This isn’t surprising, as these destinations combine beautiful architecture, great food, gorgeous natural landscapes, rich history, and some of the world’s most famous landmarks and monuments. They’re also very easy to visit, with a great tourism infrastructure and convenient means of getting there by plane, train, and car.
We also specialize in emerging destinations in Europe. In particular, Türkiye, Slovenia, and Croatia have emerged in recent years as some of the stars of the continent. They offer warmer weather and a great price point while still having the blend of history, food, and culture that people head to Europe to enjoy.
There are so many ways to explore Europe with Goway. You can learn more on our website or get in touch with a Goway Destination Specialist.
16 Mar 2023, 2:14 p.m.
