Growing Number Affluent Travelers Seek Private Customized Excursions
The latest trend among upscale travelers on international cruises is to book private customized land tours built around their particular interests. "Over the past year, we've seen a substantial increase in the number of passengers requesting personalized tours while in port," says Ashley Isaacs Ganz, founder and CEO of Artisans of Leisure, a luxury-tour operator that offers innovative cultural tours in more than 45 countries throughout Asia, Europe, the Mediterranean, the Middle East, Africa, South America and the South Pacific.
The greatest demand for these tours comes from three types of travelers:
1. Around-the-world cruisers
This select group of affluent travelers book world cruises or combine multiple cruises that extend over many months. For this group, Artisans offers a variety of options, including private day tours and/or multi-day land tours (three-seven nights) enabling such travelers to visit historic and archeological sites that are a considerable distance from where the ship docks. Led by local expert, these programs range from specialized shopping tours to cooking classes and foodie tours to religious and family-heritage excursions and art and architecture tours.
2. Private yachters
Besides visiting cultural highlights of ports of call, yachters also request to visit places well-off the beaten track that are accessible by boat. Artisan arranges exclusive onboard activities, such as lectures by local experts cooking classes lead by renowned chefs.
3. Classic cruisers
Those who prefer 10- to 14-day cruises request private excursions in each port that focus on historic and cultural highlights as well as family programs, culinary tours, private museum tours, personalized shopping, unique dining experiences and tours led by experts in history, religion, art, architecture, gardens and more.
In addition to "tours within a cruise" services, Artisans also arranges customized precruise and postcruise tours.
For additional information, go to www.artisansofleisure.com or call 800-214-8144 or 1-212-243-3239.
return to the Cruises index page |
