YURAGI Travel Wins Gold in the Tour Operators Category of Travel Weekly’s 2026 Magellan Awards

YURAGI Travel, the inbound travel business operated by Willverse Co., Ltd. (headquartered in Tokyo, Representative Director Haruto Asahina), has received a Gold award in the Overall category of the Tour Operators – Overall segment at the 2026 Magellan Awards, presented by the U.S. travel trade publication Travel Weekly. The winners were announced on October 6, 2026 (U.S. time). The award comes roughly one year after the business launched in August 2025.

About the Magellan Awards

Established by Travel Weekly in 2008, the Magellan Awards are held annually to recognize excellence across the travel industry. The program takes its name from Ferdinand Magellan, the navigator whose expedition first circled the globe. It honors outstanding design, marketing and services across eight segments: Hospitality, Travel Destinations, Cruise Lines, Online Travel Services, Airlines and Airports, Travel Agents and Agencies, Tour Operators, and Ground Transportation.

Entries are evaluated by a panel of 18 industry experts, including former airline executives, leaders of hotel and tour companies, and travel media editors. Entries do not compete with one another; each is scored individually against a standard of excellence based on Travel Weekly’s long experience and recognized with Gold or Silver accordingly. A category may have no winners if no entry meets the standard. Judging criteria cover relevance to the sector, innovation and creativity, quality of execution, impact and effectiveness, strength of supporting materials, and overall positive contribution to travel.

Commenting on this year’s winners, Travel Weekly Editor-in-Chief Johanna Jainchill said:

“Year after year, the Magellan Awards showcase the very best of travel industry creativity and innovation. Yet each year brings something new — fresh ideas, bold execution and work that challenges our expectations of what great travel marketing can be.”

Travel Weekly provides news, research, opinion and analysis to the North American travel trade marketplace, reaching a broad industry audience in print, online and through events held throughout the year.

Fellow Winners in the Category

In the Overall category of the Tour Operators – Overall segment, seven companies received Gold and one received Silver. Alongside YURAGI Travel, the Gold winners are Delta Vacations, the vacation arm of Delta Air Lines, as well as Culture Discovery Vacations, Firebird Tours, Inside Travel, Kensington, and Live Love Ride. Shore Excursions Group received Silver.

About YURAGI Travel

YURAGI Travel is a travel concierge service for affluent travelers visiting Japan.

Japan’s Tourism Agency defines “high-value travelers” as visitors whose in-country spending (excluding airfare and similar costs) reaches JPY 1 million or more per person per trip. YURAGI Travel primarily serves guests who spend JPY 10 million or more per person per trip. Working with local businesses and licensed guide-interpreters, we handle everything from itinerary design to support throughout the stay.

In designing itineraries, we focus on experiences that go beyond the surface of well-known sights. Working with local partners across Japan, not only in Tokyo and Kyoto, we compose each combination of experiences around the season and the interests of our guests.

Comment from the Representative Director

Haruto Asahina, Representative Director, Willverse Co., Ltd.

“We launched our inbound tourism business, YURAGI Travel, about a year ago. Because we were able to validate our winning model early on, we could concentrate our resources on raising the quality of our service. We see this award as international recognition of that work.

Viewed from multiple angles — market growth, the competitive landscape, and synergies with adjacent fields — we believe inbound tourism is a market of exceptional potential. The Willverse Group will continue to position this business as one of its highest-priority areas and invest in it accordingly.”

Upcoming Coverage

The full list of winners is available on the Travel Weekly awards website (travelweeklyawards.com/winners). The winners will also be featured in the Magellan Awards section of Travel Weekly’s November 16, 2026 issue.

Company Overview

Company: Willverse Co., Ltd.

Representative: Haruto Asahina, Representative Director

Address: SLACK SHIBUYA 302, 31-14 Sakuragaokacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo, Japan

Business: Building and operating businesses across tourism, marketing, AI, SaaS, and more.

YURAGI Travel: https://www.yuragitravel.com