PHOTO: Back-Roads Touring explores Europe on the back roads traveling in a Mercedes Benz Sprinter. (photo courtesy Back-Roads Touring)
Back-Roads Touring (not to be confused with Backroads, a California-based operator of biking and hiking trips) is offering small group touring in Europe in a way that makes a clean break with the tradition of escorted tours. Chris Coillet, vice president of North America, believes there is no other operator offering what Back-Roads Touring offers.
"Small group touring is all we do," says Coillet. "We carry a maximum of 18 people. Some operators call their products small group touring and they are carrying 25 people on a 50-seat coach. That's just fewer people on a coach. What we're able to do with a smaller coach, a Mercedes Benz Sprinter, is to get into those small locations that big buses just can't get to."
It's what the company calls "The Back-Roads Difference." It's built into the company's DNA from the beginning of its 27-year history.
"It's a very firm bedrock of how we created this brand and this business," says Coillet. "It's what every tour we do, every situation we make is created around."
Back-Roads tours are explicitly not for someone who wants to roll London, Paris and Rome into one trip, "the 10-countries-in-20-days type of tour when you're ticking off countries," says Coillet.
"It's for someone who may have been to Europe or any of the regions previously and wants to go back and explore in more depth," says Coillet. "The majority of our tours don't go into a different country. They'll stay in one region, like Cornwall in the U.K. or the Loire Valley in France. It's getting people up close and personal with the destination."
Not Just a Metaphor
The name Back-Roads Touring is more than just a nice sounding brand.
"We take the back roads, not the motorways," says Coillet. "Maybe the first day or the last day there may be a couple of hours on the motorways for positioning reasons. It's getting people into those destinations, into those small towns and villages and getting them to feel like they're part of the region, and then having the local experiences as well."
The company strives for immersion, not just in the environment, but among the people who live there.
"I think one of most powerful things that you can do as a tour operator," says Coillet, "is to put people in situations and introduce them to people, and show them things that are unique and foreign to them that they don't get back home, to put them in an immersive environment.
"They don't want to go to Europe and spend all that money and get the same experience you get doing a road trip here in the States."
Back-Roads tours are "very much about those local experiences and the people we introduce them to."
The tours are leisurely paced, at what is designed to be a nice blend of independent and escorted travel. Most afternoons are free to explore in villages and towns. Some days are entirely free.
"Sometimes we schedule free time," says Coillet, "a day when there is nothing actually planned and we're in a location where you've got the ability to go out and explore. The guide will be there to give you some direction, but effectively it's a free day to wander and explore, because we've found over the years that people like the ability to go and do their own thing. They don't necessarily want to follow a schedule for every 15 minutes of the day."
The Culinary Component
One of the key elements in Back-Roads tours is food.
"We want to get people up in front of the amazing food of that region, whether it be specific chef or an award winning restaurant or a different style of cuisine. If it's unique to that region we want to be sure they get to explore and try it."
Only about half of the meals are included.
"They're normally dinners, leisurely paced," says Coillet. "People want to be able to go and have a dinner with the person they are traveling with. They don't always want to have something planned."
Back-Roads choice of accommodations steers clear of international chain hotels.
The tour groups are housed in "charming, local authentic accommodations," such as castles in Ireland, country inns in the U.K., chateaux in France or villas in Spain and Italy, "accommodations that are truly iconic and true to the area. It helps with that whole immersive experience that we're trying to provide."
Coillet calls Back-Roads Touring "the leading provider of small group escorted tours throughout Europe and the UK."
He bases the claim on several factors.
- No other operator offers the same product, service, kinds of vehicles or the same people
- There are no other small group operators running the same number of tours across the same range of countries
- Many of the guides have won awards, including Wanderlust World Guide awards
- The company only provides small group tours, no tours that carry more than 18 passengers and has been doing so for 27 years
- Ninety eight percent of guests say they would take another Back-Roads tour in post-tour surveys
- A number of major tour operators in the U.S. are now offering Back-Roads tours
Breaking the Mold
Back-Roads tours are very explicitly not the kind of tour for people who are set on seeing all the "must-see sights."
"We're very up front about what our product is," says Coillet. "We don't want to give people the impression it's for people who want to go see the sights. On any tour that starts in London, on day one we leave London. It's about getting people into those regions they can explore.
"We never try to promote ourselves as one-stop shop. They don't need another Gobus or Trafalgar. Those companies offer a good product, and they've been around for years. We're not trying to compete with them. We offer a different style of product."
Back-Roads tours are about being immersed in the destination.
"We like to provide the opportunity for one-on-one conversations," says Coillet. "We love putting our guests in front of local characters. They're not always world famous, but they are people who have a story to tell and the ability to help our guests really feel like they are part of that region, and let them experience those local stories direct from the horse's mouth.
"There are places where we take our guests into people's houses. We have meetings with a member of the Corleone family in Sicily. We meet with Molly, a woman in her 90s who lives in the Channel Islands and she recounts stories of lying in bed and listening to the German soldiers march down the street during the German occupation."
One of Back-Roads Touring's upcoming tours was created in partnership with Carolyn Robb, the former private chef of Prince Charles and Princess Diana.
A Royal Taste of Scotland is a five-day program during which guests travel with the former Royal chef, who leads the tour with a guide and driver. Robb shares her stories of when lived with the Royal family in Kensington Palace for 13 years.
"It is giving the ability to ask questions," says Coillet. "People want to participate, not just observe. They want to learn and do it and not just be told about it. It's things like that you can do with 18 people and not with 60. "
Back-Roads Touring's message is catching on. The company's tours have been picked up and marketed in the U.S. by major tour operators, such as SITA World Tours, Goway Travel, GOGO Worldwide Traveler, Sceptre and Eurobound.
"Our business is growing," says Coillet. "The U.S. market has done wonders for us. People in the U.S. market are looking for a tour like this. Business is on the up."
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