The Travel Industry's Dilemma

Bridging the gap between independent and organized group travel

An age-old conflict exists between travelers who prefer to strike out on their own - independents - and those who prefer to join organized tours - groupies.

Independents refuse to part with their sense of self-driven freedom and adventure. The spontaneity of flying solo with a backpack and guidebook defines their experience. Groupies, on the other hand, value the convenience, comfort, structure and personalized expertise offered by guided itineraries.

With the rise of do-it-yourself online travel resources and social networks (think Couchsurfer), there has been a decline in traditional mom-and-pop, brick and mortar travel agencies with their lavish cruises and 5-star tours. The local travel movement, with its focus on sustainability, responsibility, and supporting local economies, has become a dominant trend in the past decade and has cast a shadow on the tourism industry fat cats.

This trend gives rise to some important questions: will independent, locally-focused travel eventually push traditional agencies and tour operators out of the industry? Will organized group travel become a thing of the past? Probably not, but the question still has implications for the future of the industry.

As the director of research and development for a US-based travel company called SnoworSand, the task of harmonizing these seemingly irreconcilable ideologies – independent versus group travel - has become the focus of my career.

I’ve seen firsthand the merits and setbacks of each, and I’m certain that combining their best elements would provide every type of traveler with a better, more fulfilling experience that is also beneficial to local economies and environments.

Consider a trip that combines the spontaneity, adventure, individualism and economy of independent travel with the convenience, comfort and expertise of an organized, guided itinerary. The group is small so it can visit mom-and-pop restaurants, hotels and shops without disrupting the local scene. Guests are introduced to local people and culture in as many ways as possible in a manner that feels off-the-cuff but also structured.

Although many of these characteristics seem inherently at odds - spontaneity versus itinerary, group versus independence, off-the-cuff versus organized - SnoworSand has made positive steps toward melding them into what I believe is the closest thing the travel industry has yet to offer to the budget-conscious traveler.

By hiring “local experts” (much like the “spotters” of Spotted by Locals) who develop itineraries showcasing an intimate knowledge of each destination, SnoworSand provides guests a truly local experience. Trips feature off-the-beaten path restaurants, parks, hangouts, nightlife, markets, monuments, shops, cafes and music venues that make the city special and unique to the local. The guiding process focuses less on stale historical facts and figures and more on exposing a lifetime of stories and memories that guests relate to on a personal level. Local experts represent living pieces of culture with whom guests can touch, talk, learn, laugh, love, befriend and engage. Groups are small (no larger than 12) and guests are encouraged to deviate from the itinerary so they feel in control of their experience.

In this way, SnoworSand has created a travel experience that has what seem to be the best elements of independent and organized group travel.

I would like to open up this topic for discussion amongst the readers, beginning with three questions:

(1) Is it possible to bridge the gap between independent and organized group travel or are these ideologies inherently and essentially at odds?

(2) Where should travel companies focus in order to create packaged travel experiences from which every kind of traveler (independent, groupie or somewhere in between) can derive benefit?

(3) What’s your opinion about the progress SnoworSand has made in “bridging the gap?”

Local Travel Movement Promotes Responsible Travel Focused on Local People, Culture, Environments and Economies

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Local Travel Movement Launches Local Travel sets its sights on becoming a key trend in 2010 April 7, 2010 –

In mid-March, the Local Travel Movement trumpeted a call to people and organisations with a passion for local travel and commitment to local travel values. The promising early reverberations of this new, international, free-to-join movement have already inspired more than 40 organisations to join a growing list of partners at http://www.localtravelmovement.com/.

The Local Travel Movement was initiated by a core coalition of people from companies that believe Local Travel is greater than the sum of its parts. The Local Travel Movement is now already a rallying point through which, by working together, Local Travel companies can help give locals a real voice, engage travellers and develop a stronger ethical dialogue within the travel industry.

Given the diversity of partner companies, the Local Travel Movement is not overly descriptive. Rather than define ‘local travel,’ the Local Travel Movement simply places value on an approach to travel that is mindful of local people, the local environment, local culture and the local economy. It proposes four easy steps to becoming a local traveller:

• connecting with local people before, during and after a trip

• travelling in a manner that is sensitive to the local environment

• respecting local heritage and culture

• spending money locally.

While these actions may seem self-evident, the Local Travel Movement prioritises this conscious and conscientious shift in attention to the direct connection between visitor and local host. For travellers it's a chance to get under a place's skin (and let it under theirs), while also making the most of their travel time and saving money by spending locally. For host communities, it is vital for enforcing the beneficial qualities of tourism, maximising a general awareness of the local culture and minimising 'leakage' from the local economy.

The partners of the Local Travel Movement believe now is the time to embrace, develop, promote and establish Local Travel as the responsible way forward in tourism. ### For more information and interviews, please contact:Ethan Gelber, WHL Group (www.whl-group.com), ethan@whl.travel Bart van Poll, Spotted by Locals (www.spottedbylocals.com), bart@spottedbylocals.com

Travel Free With SnoworSand (so what's the catch?)

Interview by Peter Stevenson

If it’s too good to be true, it usually is. At least that’s how saying goes.
But once in a while, we stumble upon something that challenges this idea.

At least this is the case for SnoworSand’s director of operations, Nicholas Kurlas, who recently launched a travel rewards program that he claims is better than any in the industry.

The SandDollars Program helps budget conscious students and young professionals travel for free to the world’s top destinations, including Thailand, South Africa and Morocco.
I sat down with Kurlas to learn more about the program and see what it’s really all about.

PS: So can you tell me a little a bit about the program?

NK: SandDollars is a referral program based on sharing information about SnoworSand trips to Europe, Asia and Africa. The power behind it is that people get excited about the way SnoworSand does things differently, that our trips are personalized, high quality, led by local people and accessible to the budget-conscious traveler.

For example, when someone learns about trip they want to take, they are naturally inclined to talk about it with their friends so they join them. The SandDollars program gives them the tools to share trip ideas more efficiently with more people and then rewards them with free travel for doing it.

PS: What makes this referral program so much better than the others out there?

NK: The best thing about the program is that it’s simple and you can earn free trips with as few as three referrals. That means if you tell three people about a trip and they book with us, you can earn free travel.

Another great thing is that anyone can participate and there’s no barrier to getting started. We don’t make you sign up for credit cards or purchase thousands of dollars of airline tickets. It comes down to getting excited about what we do and sharing that excitement with others.

PS: So how exactly does it work?

NK: If someone is interested in the program, we then send them info about the free trips we offer and provide them with tools to share information with their friends. Next, we give them a discount code that provides valuable discounts on SnoworSand trips. When someone books a SnoworSand trip with their discount code, the participant earns SandDollars, which can be exchanged for trips to Europe, Africa and Asia.

PS: So tell me about some of the free trips and how many SandDollars they cost?

NK: London, Dublin, Paris, Amsterdam, Rome, Barcelona and Florence cost ten SandDollars. This includes accommodations with breakfast, a three-day guided itinerary, sunset aperitivos, sites and activities and guided tours of the city.

Morocco, Greece, Thailand and South Africa trips range from 13 to 300 SandDollars. All this information is provided to people when they get started so they know exactly what it takes to get the trip they want.

PS: How can someone possibly earn 300 SandDollars?

NK: You’d be surprised how easily the word spreads about good travel deals. Travel is something people love to talk about so when someone finds a cool trip they know their friends would like, they will tell them about it. We’ve found there’s a snowball effect where people start talking and sharing information and it spreads organically through social networks, reaching more people then we ever thought possible.

In order to facilitate this kind of process, we provide people with methods to share information more efficiently. One such method uses online social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. These kinds of technologies make it easy to share information with hundreds or thousands of people, so the potential for earning free trips is much higher than most people think.

PS: How do you get involved?

NK: To apply to the program, send an email to SandDollars@snoworsand.com with Student Universe in the subject line and your name, age, phone number and city of residence in the body of the email. We’ll contact you with everything you need to get started, including an informational kit with more details about how the program works and your own discount code.

About SnoworSand

SnoworSand was founded in 2005 to organize ski and scuba diving trips for college students living in Italy. Since then, it has developed to offer trips to destinations throughout Europe, Africa and Asia. Over the years it has grown to become the preferred trip provider for numerous universities and study abroad programs in the US and Europe. Instead of traditional tour experiences, the company emphasizes genuine local experiences that are customized to each traveler’s style and budget. For a full listing of SnoworSand’s destinations and itineraries, visit www.snoworsand.com. For questions, contact us at info@snoworsand.com.

Travel Morocco with SnoworSand!

Most college students in the United States consider Cancun or the Florida for their spring break, but few think a spring break in Morocco is possible. Africa? Come on!

But adventurous spirits are increasingly looking at other options for spring break travel, hopping across the Atlantic for a quick European tour after midterms. Those who travel to spain or Italy are just a 100 Euro plane ticket from Morocco, the land of belly-dancing, spices, camel excursions and incredibly delicious (and cheap) food.

A Morocco travel experience is a great choice for a number of reasons. First, it's cheap. If you book through a student travel company like SnoworSand (offering trips designed for the budget-conscious student traveler), you can sit back, relax and know your getting the best possible experience at the best possible price.

But you also will also step out of the ordinary and experience something you can't find anywhere else. SnoworSand's local experts will make sure you have a personalized experience, hook up with local culture and people, and certainly make your friends jealous when you show them pictures of snake charmers, camel excursions, and swimming in Waterfalls of the Atlas Mountains. Check out http://www.springbreak.snoworsand.com/ for a full spring break itinerary!

Spring break finished? Don't worry! Morocco travel experiences with SnoworSand are available throughout the summer vacation as well as during the winter holiday.

Keeping Your Travel Company Honest

You don't always know what your signing up for when you book through a low-cost student travel company. Here are the top 5 questions you should always ask your tour operator to ensure you get what you pay for.

(1) What is actually included in the price?

Some tour companies offer incredibly low per day prices but actually don’t include anything except a bus ticket and so-so hostel reservation. This means their guests get to the destination for a cheap price but end up spending incredibly high prices on the “optional” activities the tour company offers once there. Just be aware that most travel that cart around groups of 50+ guests in the back of a bus are receiving 15-25 percent commissions on optional activities they sell to their guests.

(2) What role does the guide play?

For many student travel companies, the tour guide is a non-native whose main role is to lead the group into pre-selected shops, restaurants and bars for commissions and kickbacks.

It’s important to know whether the guide is knowledgeable about local history and culture, how much time they will be with the group, the focus of the sightseeing and activities they feature, and their qualification (education, experience, fluency in local language).

(3) How large will the tour group be?

Group size will change how you experience a destination. When you travel amongst 50 Americans, it’s virtually impossible to escape your cultural bubble and experience the local culture and people. Not only are you limited in where you can actually go (forget mom-and-pop restaurants and hole-in-the-wall guest houses), you will create an disturbance to the local scene anywhere you go. Some people prefer large group bus travel, while others prefer to travel in small groups.

(4) What are the hotels like?

When you sign up for a tour, your hotel will vary enormously in quality. Always check out the facilities online (HostelWorld is a great resource) before booking to know what is included in “continental breakfast,” whether you have a private ensuite room or a 20-person mixed dorm with shared bathroom, and how close you are to the activities and sightseeing you want to do during your trip. Oftentimes, travel companies will seclude their guests in remote accommodations so they can control what they do and don’t do.

(5) Can I see some guest testimonials?

The best way to see if a travel company is doing their job is guest testimonials and written tour evaluations. Request that they email you proof that their trips are resulting in satisfied guests.

The SnoworSand Difference:

SnoworSand offers trips at the lower end of the pricing spectrum. However, our goal is provide top-quality experiences normally reserved for those with extra cash to spend. Our standard spring break, fall break and long weekend trips cost less than $100 per day and include a full time local expert to make sure every guest has an incredible time. That means when you join us for spring break morocco or Greek Island Hopping, your local guide is knowledgeable about history and culture and is always fluent in the local language. We use small groups of 12 or fewer people and our hotels, guest houses and hostels are always double checked for quality-clean, friendly, good location, and welcoming atmosphere.

What's all the fuss with Morocco?

Even though long weekends in Morocco are packed to the brink with activities - camel rides in the Atlas Mountains, nature hikes and swimming in waterfalls, spice markets, hammam spa treatments, comical run-ins with locals, carriage rides in Jamaa el Fna and incredibly delicious Moroccan cuisine- a single long weekend is just a teazer for SnoworSand guests in Morocco. A few days are just enough to make to take over your mind so you think of nothing else than returning to the magical country to wander the souks, experiment the entire range of Moroccan cuisine, drink sweet mint tea, lose yourself in the rhythmic tones of the call-to-prayer, and of course, hang out with our local experts, Simo and Khalid.

Last weekend, Simo and Khalid had an interesting experience - SnoworSand guests actually cried in the van ride to the airport. They cried at the airport as they checked in at the ticket counter. And then they cried again as they said goodbye to Simo and Khalid. But it was the good kind of crying, said one guest upon arriving back to Florence, who purportedly shed tears as the plane took off from the Marrakech.

The general consensus amongst our guests is that one long weekend in Marrakech isn't enough. Fortunately, it's easy enough to come back. Simo and Khalid are always excited to host as many guests as possible so they can share their passion for Moroccan history and culture and demonstrate that their country is safe and open to all cultures and peoples.

Bocce Players Unite! The Trials and Tribulations of Globetrotters.

It's unclear whether those who join us each Wednesday evening at Piazza Santa Marina Novella for "Globetrotters Bocce and Wine in the Park" come because they want to play bocce or simply socialize and drink wine. I guess it doesn't matter so much as long as they're having fun.

This week, we'll continue the young tradition, and hopefully make some friends in the process. Although a bit cliche--a group of 'youngens' playing bocce in the park in Florence--we've experienced a positive reception among Marina Novella regulars. On several occassions, we've been approached by older Italians curious about our origins. "French? German?" they ask, before hearing our American accents. "Ahh, you must be studying here," they respond. Although we haven't had any challengers, we hope to attract some seasoned bocce players next week to teach us a thing or two about the game.

We welcome all bocce fans (or soon-to-be bocce fans) to join the ranks. Stop reading this blog, invite your friends, bring a bottle of vino, and relax in Santa Marina Novella every wednesday at 6 p.m. If you can't distinguish us from the crowd, listen for the Frank Sinatra emenating from Tito's speakers. All are welcome!

--Globetrotters Ski and Ride Club--

Immediately after bocce each week (8 p.m.), SnoworSand sponsors a ski film screening at the Lion's Fountain pub. Whether you're a skier, rider or all around sports fan, join us for brews, story swapping and great ski films. We love to get in touch with likeminded people who want to get amped for the upcoming season.