Cox & Kings, the world’s oldest tour company, launches in Australia with unusual destinations at affordable prices

• Cox & Kings is the world’s oldest travel company, dating back 260 years.
• Part of the Abercrombie and Kent group, it specialises in small group tours with a maximum of 18 guests.
• It offers 100 destinations including Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan.

Cox & Kings, which counted Winston Churchill and Gandhi as clients and which has been in business for more than 260 years, has launched in Australia, targeting travellers who want to explore unusual destinations at more affordable prices.

The world’s oldest travel company specialise in small group tours with a maximum of 18 guests who want to delve deeper to uncover hidden cultural secrets about each destination.

The company offers tours to more than 100 destinations across the world. This includes small group tours and tailor-made journeys to Central Asia, the Indian subcontinent, South America and Europe. For the Australian launch, Cox & Kings will also offer new tours to Tunisia, Kyrgyzstan and Umbria. Specialist-led tours will feature lectures on history, gastronomy, art and architecture. Solo travellers with no single supplement will also be available for selected itineraries.

“We are building on an extraordinary legacy while shaping a travel experience that is both seamless and deeply enriching. Our focus is on creating journeys that offer genuine insight and connection, brought to life by the people and expertise behind them,” said Debra Fox, Chief Sales Officer and Managing Director for Abercrombie & Kent Travel Group, UK and APAC.

Cox & Kings is part of the travel stable of Abercrombie & Kent Travel Group.

“Cox & Kings guests want an immersive travel experience that goes beyond the guidebooks,” said George Colvin-Slee, UK-based product manager of Cox & Kings at a media launch in Sydney.

Some of Cox and Kings’ best-selling tours take travellers to the heart of Central Asia such as Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, the Caucasus, India, Sri Lanka and South America.

Cox & Kings offers a strong value proposition, with an 11-day small group tour to Uzbekistan starting from $6795 pp excluding international flights.

Guests follow in the footsteps of Alexander the Great on the Silk Road, visiting the blue-domed mosques of Samarkand. They learn about Soviet history in the capital of Tashkent and experience the bustling Chorsu bazaar. They also ride on the renowned Afrosiyob train from Samarkand to Tashkent.

Prices for a 15-day small group tour across the Southern Caucasus start from $5995 pp, which kicks off in the oil-rich Muslim nation of Azerbaijan, through Georgia, famous for its ancient monasteries and finishes in Armenia. They will learn how to make arishta, traditional Armenian pasta, taste Georgian wine and Armenian brandy and watch a performance of Armenian spiritual music.

Prices for a 13-day small group tour to Sri Lanka start from $5895pp, which will take guests from the jungle-bound fortress of Sigiriya to the wildlife-rich Yala National Park. They will also board a train through the scenic tea country and spend two nights in a seaside beach resort.

 “Most of our guests are in the 55+ age bracket who are culturally curious and experienced travellers. They want to travel back to the destination to delve deeper into the history and culture,” said Colvin-Slee.

He admitted that bookings have been “more challenging” because of the Middle East war, especially to destinations such as Jordan. But tours to the Baltic states have been doing very well.

By sharp contrast, clients of A&K are determined to travel despite the Middle East uncertainty.

“A&K and Crystal Cruises guests are committed to travel and are very resilient,” said Ms Fox.