Some people might disagree, but organised tours are often the best option for exploring a new place. Tours are appealing, as they offer professional service, security, balance, great value for your money, and less stressful travel.
It can be difficult to impress an independent and experienced traveller with the benefits of organised tours, but to think that self-planned tours are the only good option is narrow-minded.
Let’s discover the benefits of organised tours:
You are confident about the programme
Choosing an organised tour lets you relax, knowing you will not miss out on the main attractions or important sights that are offered in the tour. In any given destination, whether it’s a big or small city, there are some famous and amazing things about that place that you wouldn’t want to miss out on. A tour operator, who is much more familiar with the city and its offerings, will make sure that you get to see them. You will also have transportation throughout the tour that will allow you to transfer comfortably from one place to another without stress, planning, or risk of getting lost, saving your time, money, and sanity. It also saves you the hassle of planning your trip on your own and relying on maps or public transportation for everywhere you want to go.
Saves time and planning
If you are travelling alone, you will have to plan out everything you need to see and do all by yourself. You will also have to figure out the best accommodation options and calculate everything according to your personal budget. Choose the wrong place and you could end up wasting time travelling to and from your accommodation. Or you might get the wrong idea about the city because the area you stayed in was not that great. Not only that, but meals, transportation, and route-planning are some other aspects that you need to think about. You could very well end up spending too much time reading guidebooks and asking locals, whereas in an organised tour you would spend that time relaxing or exploring a new place.
Creates new friendships
Whether you are travelling alone, in a group, or with family, it’s not that difficult to approach a local or meet other tourists. The problem for most of us is that these small interactions usually end up with one meeting, or the bond is not very strong and will probably remain languishing at the Facebook level. Since you will be travelling all over the place, it is nearly impossible to see the person again. On the other hand, organised tours and trips offer many more bonding opportunities, as you will spend more time together and they are designed as per the demographics and interests of the travellers. This way you can spend more time getting to know each other and enjoying activities with people of similar age and form new friendships that last.
Better quality and good value
Although it’s a fact that in many places the cheapest way to travel is to travel independently, that entails lots of planning and stress, and it requires you to live off street food and stay at cheaper/louder/dirtier dormitories, etc. And in some countries, tours are a better and less expensive option. Often tours offer you amazing hotel rates you couldn’t find on your own, as the operator usually gets a good discount for mass bookings, and even at large attractions and restaurants groups pay less than single travellers. You also often get free airport and hotel pick-up and drop-off services with organised tours. Another good thing about organised tours is that you have some insurance if something goes wrong. For example, if for some reason your hotel room is not available, than you are surely going to be accommodated elsewhere, as the responsibility lies with the operator, whereas if you are travelling independently and your hostel says it’s full, then you’re out on the streets.
Less stress and no language barrier
This can be a very important feature to consider. Sometimes even in an English-speaking country, it is not easy to understand the dialect, and this problem gets doubled in a country where other languages are spoken. So asking directions from a local or buying things could become very difficult. Organised tours will most likely provide you with fluent English-speaking guides who know all about the area and can protect you from getting ripped off or taken advantage of. Independent travellers are much more vulnerable in this regard.
