Flight Centre is swotting up on the burgeoning global student travel market, hoping it will become the company's next big growth area.
The country's largest travel agency is keeping its eye out for youth-focused travel businesses it can buy as well as expansion opportunities for its Student Flights brand.
Managing director Graham Turner says the under 26-year-old market, in particular students, holds significant global growth opportunities for Flight Centre.
"There is an increasing number of Chinese and Indian students coming to Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US to study," he told AAP.
"Whether they're studying online or offline, students, mainly paid by their parents, are doing a lot more travelling for study as much as it is for leisure.
"The Asian student market is one of the key areas we want to develop as part of our global growth strategy."
Flight Centre is also gunning for another record full year profit after making a solid start to the new financial year.
Shareholders at its annual general meeting on Wednesday were told the company expects to lift pre-tax profit between four and eight per cent above the $366.3 million achieved in 2014/15.
Mr Turner warned that consumer confidence remains fairly subdued in Australia amid the mining boom wind down, and as a result, the country's outbound travel market was growing at a slower rate than normal.
However, he said cheaper airfares and increased airline capacity on international routes were partly offsetting soft consumer confidence.
"The Australian outbound travel market is still growing even though the local economy is not buoyant," he said.
"What's keeping our outbound market growing is the fact there is more capacity and the fares are of great value."
He said this was most noticeable in the US, in particular Hawaii, where short-term departures are surging, despite the weaker Aussie dollar.
The company has performed in line with expectations during the first four months of 2015/16, with its UK and South African businesses among the top performers.
While its struggling Canadian business has undergone a leadership shakeup and its losses are easing.
Shares in Flight Centre closed 20 cents higher at $36.98.
