Among the many insightful conferences, keynote speeches and networking dinners at Railbookers’ third annual Global Summit in Las Vegas this week, we spoke to president & CEO Frank Marini to talk about what makes the Australian market stand out, the launch of their new Stars and Stripes journeys, and what they’re offering in the luxury rail space.

Railbookers president & CEO Frank Marini opening the Global Summit in Las Vegas.

Among the many insightful conferences, keynote speeches and networking dinners at Railbookers’ third annual Global Summit in Las Vegas this week, we spoke to president & CEO Frank Marini to talk about what makes the Australian market stand out, the launch of their new Stars and Stripes journeys, and what they’re offering in the luxury rail space.

“We are so thankful for the Australian market,” Marini told Travel Weekly. “The Australian market is our fastest growing region, it has been for a couple of years. We went from 10 staff in Australia to over 50 staff, and the support that we’ve received from our partners has been incredible. The travel advisor community has supported us big time in Australia too.

“The Australian traveler is by far the best traveler of any of our travelers because they’re so well-educated on travel.”

Marini says that it’s not just that Aussies are well-educated on what they want from travel, for example spotting and utilizing early-bird deals, but the length of time they travel also makes them a favorite, as they tend to go for three to four weeks at one time.

“It’s also the segments that they do,” Marini added. “Because they’ll go for three weeks, a month, we may have three bookings in one booking. For example they might be taking a river cruise, but they’re visiting family somewhere in between.

“The Australian market continues to go lightning speed for us and it’s already looking like that for next year again so, more to come.”

Marini said Railbookers are going to be adding more business development managers in Australia to help assist the growing market.

“As we continue to develop more and more targeted product for the Australian market in particular, the beauty for us is because we FIT things we can start to see a trend that is different for the Australian market: where they go and their routing, compared to say the North American market or the UK market.”

Railbookers pride themselves on analyzing existing patterns, and then creating a product to address those preferred journeys. “We almost get a view into what’s a trend before it’s a trend because we’re FITing it,” Marini told me. “So we’re constantly launching product.”

Marini explained what sort of trends he was seeing in the Australian market, and how they are developing itineraries in response.

“We see a lot of, which we don’t see in other markets, a lot of reverse journeys. So for example coming into Italy first and then heading out up through Switzerland and then ending in London. Which that isn’t a normal journey, most people start in London and then work through.

“Another interesting thing that we see from the Australian market is we see Australians coming and doing Vancouver for a few nights, going to Toronto then going to Europe. This is their pre trip, it’s almost like a trip before a trip.

“So we started packaging it like that like, ‘Hey you’re going to Europe, would you like to do across Canada first? Hit that on your way and you’re extending your trip’. That was something very specific about the Australian market.”

On the first day of the summit, Marini revealed their new Stars and Stripes journeys, which will take travelers on itineraries discovering the heart of America. Marini is confident that this is something that will resonate with the Australian traveler.

“We’re really excited about that. Our business from Australia to the US is up this year and it’s up next year, so we’ve seen no slow down at all there,” he said.

“And they’ve created some amazing itineraries so everything from Hollywood to Broadway, cross country, the Lewis and Clark Trail, the Goldrush Trail, the Presidential Library tour including Route 66 by rail… So you’ll have those big icons that you see but also our secondaries like the national parks is such a big one: Yellowstone, Yosemite, the Grand Canyon. And there’s 19 itineraries.”

Luxury rail is up 44 percent in 2026 compared to 2025 for Railbookers, something we’re seeing reflected in the Aussie market.

“We’re putting out a lot more luxury product but also for us, our luxury is also combinations. It’s not just the luxury rail, it’s what we do around it.”

As well as pushing out a lot more luxury journeys in all the different markets across the board, Railbookers are also giving people options as to how they can incorporate luxury into their trip.

“Part of that is offering that little luxury. So maybe only one night on that luxury train, or not doing all five-star maybe some four-star. So people can have a choice. So then everyone can have a chance of luxury not just the ultra luxury.

“In specific markets like the Australian market, the travel advisors and the customers are actually more familiar with luxury than other areas. And they travel so much domestically it’s like, ‘what’s the next step?’ And then maybe they do the Rocky Mountaineer, then they look at what there is in Europe or sometimes in the US.

“And once they’ve had that taste, they’re like ‘Okay what are we doing next year? Let’s do the Rockies, let’s do Rovos Rail, let’s do South Africa’. So we’re looking at that to say, ‘Hey, look at all these different combinations’.”

Originally reported by Travel Weekly on November 20, 2025.