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 is essentially a matter of 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. »
There is a difference between independent travel and tailor-made travel.
Europe lends itself well to this formula, especially when we talk about the French, Italian and Swiss Alps. We also talk about Madeira, Greece and Iceland.
In Iceland, we operate a lot on a self-drive basis. “We rent a car or jeep 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 a 4X4, we have access to very little frequented parks.”
The tailor-made trip is first of all a blank page.
The “nature” side is very important for the tailor-made trip. We are therefore looking at countries like Tanzania and Namibia.
“We won’t 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 self-guided 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 you think of a tour operator like us, you immediately think of group travel. We try to make our other trips more widely known.”
Traditours, a Quebec company, has another hybrid formula to offer, the “flex” trip. This is a group trip that includes periods of free time.
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. »
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 Ms. Lavoie.
Traditours does not intend to offer the free, unsupervised travel formula.
“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. »
