After four decades of moving people around the globe with military-grade precision, usually in pursuit of a bouncing ball or a national anthem, Gullivers Australia has done something rather clever.
It has slowed down.
Not in ambition, mind you. Quite the opposite. But in tempo, tone and, most tellingly, taste. The company’s latest move into chef-led culinary touring isn’t a dabble or a passing fad. It’s a considered shift and one that feels less like reinvention and more like evolution done properly.
Because if there’s one thing seasoned operators understand, it’s timing. And right now, the market isn’t chasing more destinations. It’s chasing meaning.
From grandstands to grandmothers’ kitchens
For years, Gullivers has traded on access the kind you can’t easily buy yourself. Premium sporting events, behind-the-scenes moments, the sort of trips that make clients feel like insiders rather than spectators.
Now, it’s applying that same philosophy to food.
Not restaurant-hopping. Not superficial “foodie” checklists. But something far more intimate: culture through cuisine, led by people who actually belong to the story.
Enter names like Adam Liaw and Chung Jae Lee, chefs with credibility, audiences, and, crucially, a narrative worth following.
Liaw’s Japan tour for 2026? Already gone. Not “selling fast” sold out. Which tells you everything you need to know about demand.
Gullivers General Manager Events, Mike Jones, puts it simply: the appetite has been building for years. Now it’s ready to be properly served.
Korea, as it actually is
Chung Jae Lee’s journey in South Korea is perhaps the most revealing of the new direction.
This isn’t Seoul-by-numbers. It’s personal. His Korea. The markets he remembers, the flavours he grew up with, the rhythms that shaped his cooking.
“Food is one of the most direct ways to understand Korea because every region tells its own story through flavour,” Lee says.
And that’s where the difference lies. Anyone can eat kimchi in a restaurant. Far fewer will understand why it tastes the way it does, how it’s made, or what it represents in a household that has been fermenting it for generations.
In Gwangju, travellers will encounter chilli pastes that are layered, complex, and deeply local. Not manufactured experiences, but lived ones.
And because Lee knows these places properly, the itinerary slips quietly past the obvious. Into family kitchens. Into long-standing neighbourhood haunts. Into spaces where tourism hasn’t quite caught up.
That’s not something you can fake.
Wellness, without the brochure language
There’s also a subtle intelligence in how Gullivers is threading wellness into these tours.
Not the overworked spa clichés, but something more culturally grounded. In Korea, that might mean communal bathhouses, mountain walks, or meals built around balancing dozens of small dishes, each doing its part.
“Visiting a traditional spa is not only relaxing but also social,” Lee notes. “It’s part of life.”
Which is exactly the point. This isn’t wellness as an add-on. It’s wellness as it naturally exists.
Italy slows the clock deliberately
Then there’s Italy, where Sydney-based food and wine expert Luke Wright is leading the “Living Italy Tour 2026.”
And yes, “living” is the operative word.
“The idea of slow travel is going to a place and feeling what life is like there at that moment,” Wright says. “That’s vital in modern life.”
He’s not wrong. Travel has spent the last decade speeding itself up with more stops, tighter itineraries, and less time to absorb anything meaningful. Gullivers, to its credit, is pushing back.
This itinerary reads like it was written by someone who understands Italy beyond the postcard: foraging in the Langhe, soaking in Saturnia’s thermal springs, cooking, tasting, lingering.
And, importantly, staying put long enough to notice the details.
“Food is what brings us together,” Wright says. “It forces us to slow down.”
In Italy, that’s not philosophy. That’s a fact.
The rise of the “skillvenir”
If this all sounds a touch indulgent, the data says otherwise.
A joint report from Trip.com and Google highlights a growing cohort of travellers chasing what’s been dubbed the “skillvenir” experiences that leave them with something more than a photograph.
Cooking skills. Techniques. Cultural understanding.
Food-related bookings jumped 43% year-on-year in 2025. Searches for overseas cooking classes? Climbing steadily.
In other words, people want to learn, not just look.
Gulliver’s has read that shift correctly and moved early enough to make a difference.
Small groups, sharper experiences
Another deliberate choice: scale.
These tours are small by design. Not as a marketing line, but as an operational necessity. Because the moment you increase numbers, you lose access and with it, authenticity.
Gullivers’ long history with schools, institutions and elite sporting groups gives it an advantage here. Logistics are second nature. Relationships are long-standing. The machinery behind the scenes is already built.
“Our history gives us operational precision and reliability,” Jones says. “That’s something partners and clients depend on.”
It’s not glamorous, but it’s critical. Particularly when your product relies on getting the small details right.
Not abandoning sport, just enriching it
Importantly, this isn’t Gullivers walking away from its roots.
The upcoming Wallabies tour to Argentina, led by former captain Tony Shaw, still delivers the sporting access clients expect. But now it’s layered with culture and cuisine local dining, curated experiences, a broader sense of place.
It’s a smarter proposition. And frankly, a more modern one.
A measured, confident shift
There’s a temptation in travel to chase trends loudly. Gullivers hasn’t done that here.
Instead, it has taken what it already does well, access, expertise, and trust and applied it to a segment that rewards all three.
The result is a product that feels considered. Not rushed. Not forced.
And, crucially, not generic.
Because in a crowded market, “another tour” is easy to ignore. But a tour led by someone who can tell you why a dish matters and where it came from that’s harder to pass up.
The bottom line
Gullivers hasn’t reinvented itself. It has simply paid attention.
To travellers. To trends. To the quiet shift away from ticking boxes and towards building memories that don’t rely on a camera roll for validation.
It’s a move grounded in experience, both theirs and the traveller’s.
And if early demand is any indication, it’s one that’s landed exactly where it should.
