Putting the 'Special' in Events

Tours focusing on special events have become a significant component for many tour operators’ portfolio of programs.

Events, after all, are an excellent focal point for special-interest tours, which bring together people on the basis of common pursuits.

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“Theme and specialty tours are on the upswing,” said Steve Born, vice president of marketing for Globus. “Travelers seek out likeminded travelers who also enjoy their chosen pastimes. Think: food and wine, active trips, special-event vacations and religious tours.”

The company offers a considerable number of these events packages, including those that focus on such experiences as Alaska’s Iditarod race, Albuquerque’s Balloon Fiesta and the Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California.

For its part, Tauck developed an events division in 2004 when it unveiled the “Celebration of Roses Event,” built around the Rose Bowl and Tournament of Roses Parade. In 2010 the company forged a partnership with filmmaker Ken Burns to create programs that tie into historic events in Washington, DC, New Orleans and Chicago.

“We thought that we could meld our [areas of] expertise and perhaps see a different side of the location, one that we had learned in the course of intense study for a film, and it would benefit the people who would come to these tours,” Burns told Agent@Home.

For 2018, Tauck is offering a new Ken Burns event in Washington D.C.: “One Nation: The Tauck Washington, DC Event.” The event will take place May 20–24, and will explore a range of American history themes.

“The Civil War event was built around the 150th anniversary of the Civil War,” said Jeremy Palmer, Tauck’s senior vice president of worldwide operations. “The theme is going to [center around] one nation, in terms of all the things that bind us together as Americans—from a political point of view and a cultural point of view.”

Collette is offering a program for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo, a grand military and musical performance presented by the British Armed Forces. The program also includes a visit to Highclere Castle, the setting for the TV series “Downton Abbey.”

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Kensington Tours offers a number of events programs, including those that tie into the Monaco Grand Prix, tulip time in Holland, Oktoberfest in Germany, Japan's cherry blossom season, the Pushkar Camel Fair in India, Carnival in Brazil and Argentina and Irish festivals.

Abercrombie & Kent now offers an entire product line based on special events. The roster of programs includes packages built around such events as the Naadam Festival and the Khan Legacy in Mongolia; the Mount Hagen Sing Sing Festival in Papua New Guinea; the Edinburgh Military Tattoo; and Easter Island and the Tapati Festival.

New 2018 event packages include “Brazil: Soul of Carnival” and “English Gardens and the Hampton Court Flower Show.”

Insight Vacations is also offering a garden-related events package, in this case to London’s Chelsea Flower Show. Its other events programs include the Oktoberfest and Oberammergau 2020.

Travel Impressions is offering a series of sports-themed programs at Caribbean resorts that include meetings with famous athletes. The company also features programs centered around meetings and social events with such sports teams as the Chicago White Sox, Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles.