Guide

Moving a Tour to Another Date: What It Costs

2026-11-06 · TourFax editorial team

Moving a Tour to Another Date: What It Costs

Photo: This Photo was taken by Supanut Arunoprayote (CC BY 4.0)

Asking to move a tour from one departure to another sounds like an administrative request. In two of these five sets of booking conditions it is not treated as a change at all. It is treated as a cancellation, and priced on the cancellation scale.

This note reads the amendment and transfer clauses published by Exodus Adventure Travels, Trafalgar, Explore Worldwide, Intrepid Travel and G Adventures, checked November 4, 2026.

Exodus says a date change is a cancellation, in one sentence

Exodus clause 6.1 is the bluntest line in this set. If after the Booking Confirmation has been issued you wish to change the date of departure, "this shall be treated as a cancellation and the cancellation terms in Section 5 shall apply."

Clause 6.2 then prices every other change at US $60 plus any further cost Exodus incurs, including charges from third-party suppliers. The parenthesis in that clause matters: it covers changes to travel arrangements "but not travel dates."

So the US $60 fee is not available for the request most people want to make. Moving the date drops you onto the Section 5 scale instead.

There is one softer route. Clause 5.1 allows a forfeited deposit to be transferred to a new booking made within 3 months of the cancellation date, for travel departing within 12 months of the new booking date.

Miss either of those two windows and the conditions state the deposit is forfeited. Clause 5.4 adds that the deposit is non-refundable even where the calculated cancellation charge is lower than the deposit paid.

Trafalgar charges nothing for a change, until final payment is due

Trafalgar's US conditions take the opposite approach on fees. They state the operator does not charge for minor booking changes, and that third-party costs incurred will be passed on to the guest.

The same section warns that costs "may increase the closer to the departure date that changes are made", and that the requested change may on occasion not be possible.

Then the door closes. A change of trip date or itinerary after final payment is due "will be treated as a cancelation." The deadline is the final payment date, not the departure date.

Trafalgar does publish a fallback for cancellations before final payment is due. Its Deposit Protection gives a credit of 200 dollars per person or the tour-only deposit, whichever is less, valid up to five years from the cancellation date.

That credit comes with two restrictions worth reading twice. It cannot be used as a deposit against a future booking, only as a credit against final payment, and only one credit per person can be applied to each booking.

Explore allows one move per booking, and only up to 70 days out

Explore Worldwide publishes the most structured date-transfer clause of the five. A confirmed group tour departure can be changed or transferred to a different departure date or trip up to 70 days before departure.

Four conditions sit under it, and each one costs something:

  • One move only. Changes are "limited to one transfer during the lifetime of your booking."
  • No way back. "It is not possible to rebook back onto the original departure once you have either transferred or cancelled your booking."
  • You pay the price difference. The outstanding balance falls due along with any additional fees, charges or costs arising from the transfer, such as a difference in trip price.
  • The discount does not travel with you. Explore states it is unable to apply any sale discounts from the original booking to the new booking.
  • Flights are the real bill. Because most airlines do not permit name changes after ticketing, Explore warns the charges are likely to include the full cost of the flight or an alternative flight.

Explore also offers a credit voucher for a cancelled booking, less non-refundable charges. It must be redeemed within 12 months of issue, cannot be exchanged for cash, and no further voucher can be requested against the new booking.

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Intrepid stops all amendments 56 days out

Intrepid's clause 9 allows transfers to an alternative trip or to a third party "only when operationally possible", and states that certain fees may apply.

You pay any additional costs charged by suppliers and an amendment fee covering Intrepid's administration costs. The conditions read on November 4, 2026 do not put a figure on that amendment fee.

The hard stop is a date: "No amendments are permitted to your booking within 56 days of departure." Inside that window the only remaining lever is cancellation.

Intrepid's credits are generous on time and strict on use. They have no expiry date, but they are not transferrable to another person, not redeemable for cash, and may not be used to book flights or insurance.

One clause catches people trying to slide sideways into the same week next year. A Deposit Credit "may not be applied to the same or similar dates of travel of the original booking."

G Adventures keeps the change window open longest

G Adventures clause 17 states that changes to a booking depend on availability and are subject to its approval, and that extra costs will be charged to you along with an administrative fee.

Its cut-off is far later than the others: "No changes are permitted to any booking within 10 days of departure of the first product or service on the applicable booking."

The same clause draws a line that explains the whole subject. Cancellation of a tour "will not be considered a change for purposes of this section and will be governed by the applicable cancellation terms."

That is the distinction every operator here relies on. A change is cheap and bounded. A cancellation is priced on a scale, and our note on when cancellation fees jump shows where each scale steps up.

What to check before you ask

  • Which deadline applies: 70 days at Explore, 56 days at Intrepid, 10 days at G Adventures, the final payment date at Trafalgar, and no useful date at Exodus because the request is a cancellation.
  • Whether the request is a date move or a person swap. They are priced separately, as our note on changing a name on a tour booking sets out.
  • What the flight does. Three of the five warn that the airline may charge up to the full cost of a replacement ticket, which is the exposure described in land only or flights included.
  • Whether the new departure costs more. Explore, Intrepid and G Adventures all pass the price difference to you, on top of any fee.
  • Whether a surcharge is already in play. A price rise can carry its own free cancellation right, covered in our note on when an operator can raise your tour price.

Bottom line

A date change is only a date change where the conditions say so. At Exodus it is a cancellation by definition, and at Trafalgar it becomes one the day final payment falls due.

Where a move is allowed, the published fee is rarely the main cost. The price difference on the new departure and the airline's position on the ticket usually are.

Ask early, in writing, and read the credit rules before accepting a voucher. Our note on guaranteed departures covers the other half of this question, which is whether the departure you are moving to will run at all.

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