Global Tours

What Global Tours does

Global Tours Inc. is a privately held travel agency founded in 2001 and headquartered at 32 Broadway, New York City, operating under CEO Joel Shtesel. The company is a traditional direct-to-consumer travel seller specializing in discounted airline tickets to Israel, domestic US, and worldwide destinations, alongside hotel reservations (with a curated focus on Jerusalem luxury properties) and car rentals across NYC, Canada, and Israel. Customers are served through a Magento-based self-service e-commerce quote platform, a toll-free phone line (800.881.9230), and email-based requests, with the company explicitly targeting kosher-observant travelers and individual families seeking personalized multi-component itineraries.

The business model is commission-based: revenue is generated primarily through booking commissions on airline tickets, hotel accommodations, and car rentals passed through at discounted rates, supplemented by referral fees from a partnership with Travel Insured International for travel insurance. Pricing is largely quote-driven with example rates from $12.99/day for NYC car rentals, $16/day for Israel/Canada car rentals, and $239-$440/night for premium Jerusalem hotels. The company maintains display relationships with more than 15 major airlines including Delta, American Airlines, JetBlue, Turkish Airlines, El Al, United, and Lufthansa, which underwrite its access to competitive fares. No proprietary technology platform, mobile app, API, or AI/ML capability is disclosed; the underlying technology is a standard Magento storefront.

The company has no disclosed institutional investors, parent company, subsidiaries, M&A activity, patents, certifications, or regulatory actions. It self-describes as a multi-million dollar operation serving thousands of clients annually and is privately held with founder/CEO-led ownership. Geographic reach is claimed worldwide with particular depth in the US-Israel travel corridor.

Name

Global Tours

Legal name

Global Tours Inc.

Website

https://globaltoursinc.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2001

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Global Tours Inc. is a privately held New York-based travel agency founded in 2001 that books discounted flights, hotels, and car rentals through a Magento e-commerce site, toll-free phone, and email, specializing in Israel-bound and kosher-observant travelers and earning commissions plus insurance referral fees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Travel Booking Commissions: Global Tours generates revenue through commissions on booked airline tickets, hotel accommodations, and car rentals. The company passes through discounted rates to customers while earning a margin on each transaction.
2. Travel Insurance Referrals: The company partners with Travel Insured International to offer travel insurance packages, earning referral fees for policy placements.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Global Tours is a New York-based travel agency that sells discounted airline tickets, hotel accommodations, and car rentals through its Magento-powered website, a toll-free phone line, and email-based quoting. The company specializes in flights to Israel and serves the kosher-traveler demographic, with full-service agent-assisted bookings and travel insurance offered via a partnership with Travel Insured International.

Product overview

Global Tours is a travel agency offering a unified platform for booking flights, hotels, and car rentals. The core product portfolio consists of flight reservation services, hotel booking services (with specialized focus on Jerusalem luxury hotels), and car rental services across multiple destinations including NYC, Canada, and Israel. Additional offerings include travel insurance through a partnership with Travel Insured International. The hotel offerings feature specific Jerusalem properties including Dan Panorama, Waldorf Astoria Jerusalem, The David Citadel, King David Jerusalem, Inbal Jerusalem, and Leonardo Plaza Jerusalem. Car rental products range from economy vehicles ($12.99/day in NYC) to luxury SUVs ($29/day in NYC) and international rentals in Israel and Canada (from $16/day).

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Flight Booking Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Able to secure business class seat at low price with only hours notice

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Travel Insured InternationalminorGTM or Marketing PartnerGlobal Tours has partnered with Travel Insured International to offer travel insurance packages to clients. The partnership enables Global Tours to provide a full range of affordable travel insurance options, with the company earning referral fees for policy placements.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Broad incumbents

• Expedia: Global online travel agency offering flights, hotels, car rentals, and packages at massive scale. Comparable to Global Tours in core product categories (flight, hotel, car booking) but competes as a dominant self-service alternative rather than an agent-assisted specialist.
• Kayak: Meta-search travel platform comparing flights, hotels, and car rentals across OTAs and suppliers. Comparable to Global Tours as a competing channel for travel discovery and booking, but operates as a price-comparison engine rather than an agent.
• Booking Holdings: Global online travel platform (Booking.com, Priceline, Kayak, OpenTable) covering accommodations, flights, and car rentals. Comparable to Global Tours in inventory categories but operates as a large-scale OTA rather than a niche agent-led service.
• American Express Travel: Travel agency division of American Express offering agent-assisted bookings for card members, including premium leisure and business travel. Comparable to Global Tours in the agent-assisted model and access to negotiated rates, though differentiated by card-member affiliation and brand scale.

Direct peers

• Avoya Travel: Host-agency model with a network of independent travel advisors selling cruises, tours, and vacation packages. Comparable to Global Tours as a traditional agency-intermediary model serving consumer travelers, though with a heavier emphasis on hosted advisor networks.
• Travel Leaders Group: Large US travel agency network offering leisure and corporate travel management through thousands of agents. Comparable to Global Tours in agency-intermediated bookings across flights, hotels, and packages, but at significantly larger scale.
• Direct Travel: US travel management company serving corporate and leisure clients with agent-assisted booking and custom itineraries. Comparable to Global Tours as a traditional agency model, though more weighted toward corporate accounts.
• Frosch International Travel: US-based travel management company specializing in leisure and corporate travel with VIP and complex-itinerary capabilities. Comparable to Global Tours in agent-assisted, high-touch bookings for travelers who value personalized service over self-service OTA tools.
• Liberty Travel: US-based full-service travel agency chain (formerly part of TUI Group) selling flights, hotels, cruises, and packages through storefronts and online. Directly comparable to Global Tours in model and customer base (leisure US travelers seeking agent-assisted booking), though larger in scale.

Regional players

• TravelONE: Host-agency network supporting independent travel advisors in the US. Comparable to Global Tours as a traditional-agency model, but operates via a hosted-advisor structure rather than a single storefront.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/GlobalToursInc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/globaltours

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Global Tours