When the time comes to travel, there is the trip that you organize yourself and that you take alone, with your partner, or your family, or friends. There is also organized travel, in groups, with its advantages and constraints. And then, there are hybrid formulas, which allow you to take advantage of both types of stays.
This is how companies specializing in group travel offer what they often describe as “free travel”. It’s essentially about offering proven itineraries, but without a guide and without a group. This formula allows customers to benefit from the company’s expertise and entrust all logistics to it.
“Freedom means leaving on your chosen dates,” explains Jad Haddad, director of Terres d’aventure Canada. All logistics are pre-organized: accommodation reservation, luggage transport. We provide everything from hiking maps, small addresses, and recommendations for visits along the way. People travel at their own pace. »
It makes a difference between independent travel and tailor-made travel.
For self-guided trips, there is a pre-established route because there is a hiking route, the tour of Mont Blanc, for example. We have certain freedoms to modify accommodations, add nights, we can offer difficulty options for the trails.
Jad Haddad, director of Terres d’aventure Canada
Europe lends itself well to this formula, particularly when we talk about the French, Italian and Swiss Alps. We also talk about Madeira, Greece and Iceland.
PHOTO BERNARD BRAULT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Greece lends itself well to the self-guided travel formula.
In Iceland, we operate a lot of self-drive formulas. “We have a car or jeep rental and we go to the accommodation at the end of the day. In summer, the tracks in the interior of the country are open and in 4X4, you have access to very little frequented parks. »
The tailor-made trip is first of all a blank page.
We do this in a few key destinations. We sit down with our traveler, we build the itinerary according to their interests. If, for example, he likes photography, we make sure that the route is designed to take time to stop for photos.
Jad Haddad, director of Terres d’aventure Canada
The “nature” side is very important for the tailor-made trip. We are therefore looking at countries like Tanzania and Namibia.
“We will not take a tailor-made trip to visit Rome, Venice or Naples,” says Mr. Haddad.
Terres d’aventure has existed for over 45 years in Europe. It has been offering independent travel for 15 to 20 years.
“We know the terrain well, we have often gone scouting. We often have several trail options. We chose the ones we liked. »
Terres d’aventure opened an office in Quebec 11 years ago, but the concept of freedom travel is still relatively unknown there.
“People don’t have the reflex to think about it,” says Jad Haddad. When we think of a tour operator like us, we immediately think of group travel. We are trying to make our other trips more known. »
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
You can hike in the Alps in a group or independently.
Traditours, a Quebec company, has another hybrid formula to offer, “flex” travel. This is a group trip that includes periods of free time.
Most of the time, you follow the group, especially to see the must-sees, the tourist attractions. You can therefore take advantage of the advantage of being in a group to access the attractions more quickly. Then we integrated moments of freedom, during which people are free to do what they want.
Nancy Lavoie, marketing director at Traditours
The agency has chosen strategic locations to offer these periods of free time. “These are places where you can walk, where there are things to do. We can make suggestions: you could do this, that, but without being accompanied. »
It was the customers themselves who requested this option.
“Our circuits are quite busy,” explains Nancy Lavoie. When we do a Traditours tour, we tell ourselves that this is perhaps the only time that the person will go to that country, so we make sure that they see everything there is to see . But some told us that they didn’t necessarily want to see everything, that they would like to have little moments to just wander. »
PHOTO ALEKSANDAR GEORGIEV, GETTY IMAGES
Leave the group for a few hours to have a romantic coffee in the center of Turin, an advantage of “flex” travel.
It is often couples who choose “flex” trips. “Being on a terrace in Turin, having a little coffee with your partner, while having the advantages of the group, that has its charm,” says Mme The way.
Traditours does not intend to offer the formula of unsupervised, unsupervised travel.
“What makes Traditours strong is quality supervision,” says Nancy Lavoie. This is what sets us apart from all other group travel agencies. We do a lot of internal training for the guides to make sure they are the best and ready to handle any eventuality. »