TORONTO — There’s nothing like a family-style feast to bring people together and get them talking about travel, which was exactly what Globus family of brands was hoping for at its latest industry luncheon.

Taking place at La Veranda Osteria Ristorante in Toronto, the lunch included all of Italy’s classic dishes to highlight the many Italian cities the company’s brands (Globus, Cosmos, Monograms and Avalon) will travel to next year. Stéphanie Bishop, Managing Director of Globus, said that in 2018, the company is putting much of its focus on Italy, “one of our primary destinations”.

As such, there will be a sweeping array of options for clients to choose from, including 15 itineraries with Globus, 11 with Cosmos, as well as City Getaways and countless combinations ranging from four to 16 days with Monograms. Moreover, both Globus and Cosmos are offering 10% off tours for children ages 8-17, while Monograms is offering the same discount for kids 2-17 (children under two are free of charge).

Bishop also highlighted the “three ways of touring in Italy” that’s available to clients through its brands. While coach touring is available with both premium brand Globus and cost-effective brand Cosmos, Monograms offers packaged tours for independent travellers, by which clients can tour on their own while having all the logistics like accommodation and transport taken care of.

Bishop, who’s taken several Monograms trips with her husband, admitted to preferring this more flexible touring style over the company’s other brands. She noted several of Monograms’ selling points, including meet-and-greet service, central hotels, half-day sightseeing in each city and first-class rail between cities. “A Monograms escort will even take you to train stations to make sure you don’t get on the wrong train,” she said.

Special guest Marco Sorbara, executive director, Europe for Globus family of brands, noted another major advantage to booking with Monograms. Next year, clients can choose from what he calls “the big 5” cities – Rome, Florence, Venice, Paris and London – and select how many nights they want to stay in each (minimum two-night stay in each). “They can choose any or all of the five cities,” he said, also noting that there will be more cities added to the program in 2019.

Also new in 2018 is Cosmos’ eight-day ‘Apulia: The Heel of Italy’ tour, and eight-day ‘Gourmet Tuscany’, which uses Montecatini as a homebase from which to travel to neighbouring towns like Lucca and Greve. In addition, Globus has added a new component to its ‘Highlights of Sicily and Southern Italy’ tour: an exclusive visit to the town of Castel Gandolfo. Globus is the only tour operator to gain access to the small town, which had been previously closed to tourists until 2016.

Although next summer will be a busy one indeed for all of Globus’ brands, the company is pushing for travel in the off-season, which Sorbara said is an ideal time to visit Europe. As a result, ‘Escapes by Globus’ has just been launched, featuring winter escapes from November to March at prices 40% cheaper than summer offerings. “It is the exact same product, just a lot cheaper,” said Sorbara, “with the same hotels, same inclusions, and no single supplement.” The first departures of ‘Escapes by Globus’ left two weeks ago.

For more information on ‘Escapes by Globus’, go to globusjourneys.ca/Vacation-Packages/Escapes.

To learn more about Italy offerings, go to globusjourneys.ca/user/e-brochures/Undiscovered-Italy.