Active has never been as popular a category in the industry as it is now. But it also encompasses a lot more than in the past, which means you don’t have to be physically excited to enjoy those kinds of trips, you just have to be open to new reports, and that’s what today’s ers say they want, life reports.
An attractive-looking effect of the COVID-19 pandemic has been that it has driven massive increases in participation in almost any and all types of outdoor activities, from fishing to bird watching to golf, although the biggest winners were hiking, cycling and running. Well Sports department stores recorded record sales and to the maximum all motorcycles available in the country were sold quickly, adding motorcycles and interior equipment. those who have embarked on new activities during the pandemic say they must continue to do so in the future and, by maximum estimates, there are more Americans hiking and biking than ever before. This, in turn, sparked massive interest in active travel. , which traditionally meant guided walks and motorbike holidays, now means so much more.
Personally, I’ve been a big fan of those trips for two decades before the pandemic, as there’s no better way to truly appreciate your surroundings, whether it’s unspoiled nature or the captivating villages of the Tuscan hills, than the speed at which you see it from your feet or from the saddle of a bicycle. You reach out to others and he visits you, but he’s also healthier, and that means the sinful sides of the holiday, the wine, the ice cream. , the new baguettes, the cured cheeses, everything comes with a little less guilt, because you ‘deserve’ them.
Today, active travel means everything from yoga and surf retreats to guided ski safaris, and more classic motorcycle and walking trips have been combined with other activities on multi-sport itineraries that add up to things like kayaking, canoeing, sailing, horseback riding, and even caving. to the mixture. Multisport trips are wonderful possible options for diverse teams or for those who need to do physical activities and discover something new but who (yet) are not passionate about cycling or hiking. At the same time, the gastronomic aspect of travel has evolved a lot, concentrating on notable restaurants along the way, local specialties, VIP wine and cheese tastings, even cooking classes, to the point of creating a total subcategory of “active culinary journey”. There are also more tactics to be active than ever before, adding the particularly increased use of ships rather than hotels.
There are many notable operators in the high-end active category. I’ve been fortunate to work with leading corporations like Butterfield
But when it comes to choice, no company gives more than Backroads, America’s oldest operating travel company (since 1969), and widely considered the largest. In many cases bigger is rarely necessarily bigger, however I have ridden with Backroads many times, enjoyed it and they have used their scale to the benefit of the client – buy out of boats, higher quality motorcycles, more clout with hotels, more large vehicle fleets, you call it. In 2016 they added loose GPS devices with directional maps (instead of looking to read paper directions while biking) and the loose option of motor assisted electric motorcycles (many operators qualify for this upgrade) on vacations in Europe, North America North and Hawaii. Another main advantage of having such a large catalog of vacations is that they can be more age-appropriate, occasionally providing the same vacation to adults only (perfect for friends and couples) or families, which are then divided into those with children. and young teenagers. and those with older teens and 20-somethings. As a result, even on organization vacations, everyone can split up in a way that they and other visitors enjoy.
But ultimately, what Backroads offers that their rivals can’t fit in is an impressive array of high-quality possible options of destination options, lanes to follow, activities, activity degrees, and timings. At most, all of them are offered as scheduled. organizing outings that you can participate in, or they can be done privately for you and your circle of family or an organization of friends, giving you more privacy and more freedom of time (and more prices). Land also comes in two degrees of accommodation to attract more budgets, with travel employing “laid-back hotels” or “top-notch hotels,” the latter adding larger luxury brands like Montage, Belmond, and Auberge Resorts. Offering even more flexibility, while the maximum active classic has lasted a week or more, Backroads has added a wide diversity of weekend and 4-day trips for those looking for a faster getaway or to combine it with other trips. Choices, possible possible options and more possible post possible options.
Since it started skyrocketing after pandemic shutdowns, Backroads has noticed that the demand for growth is huge and continues to load more and more new trips and departure dates for existing trips. 2021 has been a record year that is about to be surpassed, and the number The number of travelers taking Backroads trips this year increased by 24% over pre-pandemic titles in 2019, and the number of trips they will offer internationally increased by 21%.
Backroads was started through Tom Hale in his garage in 1969, and 4 decades later, Hale still runs the company as president. Here’s what he told me recently: “When Backroads started over 40 years ago, the active adventure segment of the industry was virtually non-existent. Our trips have mostly attracted serious cyclists and hiking enthusiasts, but the audience of other people who actively need to see the world differently has grown particularly over the years. We’ve listened to our consumers and added other types from around the world for all tastes, interests, and activity levels. For example, we hear from many families who need to combine and spend their holidays outdoors by bike, trails or on the water. Today, Backroads is the only corporate asset/adventure to offer a circle of family members across age groups. Our philosophy of encouraging other people to get out and bond with their destiny through active search is still applicable today, and we are excited to see so many ers embrace this idea.
“Backroads has grown with our consumers on many tactics, from adding shorter trips for those who need a weekend getaway, to eliminating the active market for sea and river cruises, launching Dolce Tempo trips for those who need to leave calmer. rhythm, segmenting our circle of family trips into 3 different age groups. . . and the list goes on. Anything that differentiates our consumers in terms of what they expect from an active journey, we try to offer something for everyone’s tastes. Now, more than ever, there is no ‘typical’ Backroads guest. “
Here’s an example of the company’s scalable offerings that I’ve experienced firsthand. Several years later, I was in Kentucky on a mission, and the state’s tourism branch announced a new motorcycle trail, the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. They’ve created a map and online page and features for places to stay along the way, local motorcycle rental shops, and anything else you’d like to take a self-guided vacation through the beautiful domain between Louisville and Lexington. Array and all the distilleries and attractions you might stop at along the way. It was when the interest in bourbon and craft distilling was gaining popularity, all these great new hotels were opening in Louisville, and I don’t forget to think, ‘Wow, that’s a fabulous idea, going down the paths beyond oral . beyond the horse and bluegrass farms, taking advantage of the great popularity of bourbon and southern cooking, with great weather most of the year. Except most people who don’t want to drop by on a self-guided motorcycle tour, bring their luggage, hope it doesn’t rain, go out to show and pass distillery tours that might be packed, e-book rooms along the way, all the annoyance. I thought: “If a company presented this vacation as a trip with an escort, it would be fabulous, a house run. There are tons of such vacations for wine lovers, but none in this country are for whiskey lovers.
Well, apparently, Backroads felt the same way, as they stepped in as the first major operator to load up a motorcycle ride down the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, employing homes like the 21c Museum Hotel and Kentucky Castle, with vip personal tours of wonderful distilleries and shops, live. local music, full van pickup on the road, luggage transfers and guides and all luxury accessories. There’s even a DIY whiskey blending experience. That was only 3 years ago, and by 2023 they will offer another 20 scheduled departure dates for the organization, a huge amount, and they will also offer it on a personal trip. And that’s just one of the countless options.
They still offer all the classics, biking in Tuscany, Burgundy, Napa, hiking in the Alps, Alaska and the Canadian Rockies, but geographically they have expanded widely, in booming hotspots like Norway’s Lofoten Islands, the District of the Lakes in Chile, etc. Spokeswoman Liz Einbinder told me that “2022 is shaping up to be our best year yet, and we expect 2023 to be even bigger as more people get back on the road. New 2023 trips launching next year adding Baja California, a new Sardinia motorcycle tour, a multi-adventure tour in the Carolinas, a hike in the Dolomites and Lake Garda, Canada and more again. We will announce more new voyages in 2023 later in the summer. We are very excited about these new trips and we know that our visitors will be too. She’s telling the truth: Just two days ago, Backroads introduced new multi-sport rides in the South of France, Argentina’s Mendoza wine country, Oregon’s Columbia River Gorge and Wyoming’s Tetons; hiking in Sedona; and biking from luxury hotels in Napa and Sonoma.
In addition to an incredibly varied list of hikes, motorbikes and multi-sport trips around the world, whether scheduled or personally organized outings, these are some of the express spaces in which Backroads has created new tactics for active travel.
Active cruises: They are very popular temporarily and more and more itineraries are being added. In fact, Backroads introduced Active Cruises just seven years ago with the Danube and today covers a dozen countries from Asia Pacific to the Atlantic via the Amazon, through Europe and the Mediterranean. They usually reserve a number of spaces for their organization on a scheduled cruise, but the category has been so popular for them that they now offer full boat rentals where everyone in the shipment is Backroads participants. Most are river cruises, which use smaller ships with more space than ocean cruises, which have had great appeal since the pandemic, with many non-public areas and internal and external privacy, and features for in-room dining or dining al fresco on deck.
But the real draw is that you only pack and unpack once on your trip, unlike the average 3 hotels, while crossing larger expanses that come with some of Europe’s major cities, towns, and wine regions. The most classic routes are the Seine, the Danube and the Rhine, but Backroads also serves the waterways of Belgium and the Netherlands, the Amazon and the hot Douro Valley in Portugal, as well as a list of ocean offerings that add Iceland, Tahiti, Venice to Croatia, Antarctica and the Galapagos. cruise lines, adding luxury industry leader Ama Waterways for most European rivers, and the most sumptuous French cruise line, Ponant, for the Mediterranean, Iceland and Polynesia (learn more about what makes Ponant so special here).
Dolce Tempo: Due to the growing interest of newcomers in ActiveArray Backroads, the decision was made to reinvent the wheel with an entirely new category that is less difficult and more available to the less passionate. The Dolce Tempo (Sweet Time) collection has the same luxury attriyetes, adding full van support, perfect guides, a list of privileged VIP tours, more sensible tastings and hotels, and even more decadent cuisine, but they are “Developed through design”. Examples come with electric cycling on the California coast. from Santa Barbara to Ojai, walk (instead of walking) on the incredibly beautiful Cinque Terre in Italy, walk on the beautiful Lake Louise and Banff, the oldest national park in Canada, as well as many other destinations, adding Utah, Switzerland, the Camino de Santiago in Spain, Alaska, New Zealand, France, California wine region, Costa Rica, Ireland, Iceland, Maine, Martha’s Vineyard
To give you an idea, Dolce Tempo’s quiet walking tours typically include 2 to 3 hours of walking during the day, or around 2 to 7 miles. All Dolce Tempo motorcycle rides offer electric motorcycles and an average of 2 to 4 hours of constant cycling with the day, or around 10 to 30 miles. For those who wish, regular road bikes are also available. Dolce Tempo’s welcoming nature made them temporarily very popular, many more were added, and Hale gives them credit for feeding the record number of consumers backroads now serves.
Active cooking: Because eating and drinking well and places like Italy and the world’s wine regions go hand in hand with an active holiday, providers in this area of active travel have collapsed to upload more food-focused trips for food lovers and Backroads is expertly biased. in many ways. The company has been known for its perfect in-house selections, and on the trips I’ve made with them, they’ve always come with food in hidden gems that I would never have discovered on my own, with a real local. sense of place, and also had wonderful recommendations for evenings on their own. All trips come with extras like wine tastings, personal wine tours, and deep dives into specialties ranging from balsamic vinegar and olive oil to cheeses and bloodless cuts. But they also have a separate list of “active culinary” trips with even greater appeal to foodies, including guided market tours, cooking classes, farm and dining tours, Michelin-starred restaurants, and more.
Cold Weather Active: In recent years, Backroads has once again pioneered active specialists, completely abandoning cycling and hiking for what it calls “snow adventures,” trips that offer activities like snowshoeing, ice cream parlors, skating, and more while watching the Northern Lights, moose, reindeer, and even sleeping in ice hotels. from Canada to Finland and Sweden from Wyoming to Antarctica.
With so many other types of trips of very varied duration in so many places, and more that are added all the time, it is no wonder that Backroads enjoys a higher rate of normal customers, since it can make a few trips a year and never make a break in the catalog. For this reason, like hotel chains or airlines, they even have a flexible common guest program to earn rewards, BEST, Backroads Extra Special Travelers Club. But even compared to the most complicated active trips, the most complicated is just choosing where and how to go.