Travel with a theme

No one wants to spend their holiday on a bus with a group of strangers, do they? Well, yes: New Zealanders are relishing tours with meaning and travel with a theme, writes CATHRIN SCHAER.

Time was when we went on holiday to get a tan, read a couple of trashy novels and drink coloured cocktails that tasted like meths and were decorated with little umbrellas and old fruit.

No more. Today's holidaymaker seeks exciting adventure, in-depth education, interesting experiences and meaningful encounters with the natives. In short, many of today's holidaymakers are looking
for a focus or a theme.

Forget about simply "doing" New York. What you really want is a design tour of the most fascinating architecture and the best museums and galleries.

Don't go to Italy just to eat over-priced pizza in the tourist traps. A culinary trip is what's required, with an English-speaking expert on pasta and olives as your guide.

"Themed travel has been around for a long time but I don't think it's ever been as popular as it is now," says Suzanne Robin, product development manager for Gulliver's Events, one of the largest theme-
travel operators in New Zealand.

Robin has worked in the travel industry for almost 20 years and has spent six of them coming up with special-event travel. This includes group tours focusing on various cultural aspects of a country such as the literature, design or cuisine. Themed travel can also focus on special musical, sporting or other events.

"These days we want more out of a travel experience than just whizzing around in a car looking at famous landmarks," says Robin. "We want something meaningful, we want more knowledge and purpose."

Other operators have their own theories as to why themed travel is catching on. "New Zealanders are
travelling far more," states Cynthia Heinz, of Bushwise Women, which has been running trips with two major themes for around 10 years. Theme one: the groups are all-female. Theme two is the destination.

"They've been to Bali, Fiji and the Gold Coast and they don't want yet another apartment on the beach. The market is becoming far more sophisticated. And I know from experience that if there's a focus to your travel, you seem to get more out of it."

Heinz thinks there's also been a big change in New Zealand's national do-it-yourself mentality.

"When we started this business we were long-term trampers. And, like many New Zealanders, we were sceptical about paying anybody to take us anywhere. But there's been a change. We've noticed that people are now so busy and life is so hectic that there's more willingness to pay for an expert to organise the logistics."

Allen Walley, of specialist history tour company Time Traveller: "More people with better education, more interest in niche subjects and more money ... basically a better class of traveller, and the industry is wising up to this."

But why, you have to ask, is a better class of traveller opting for a group holiday? Surely there are obvious disadvantages, such as a lack of freedom to do what you want, when you want; guides cajoling you into compulsory fun; and the possibility of sharing precious time off with the most irritating, boring strangers on Earth - who snore or have ugly bathroom habits.

Walley says people are assured of a common, and possibly quite passionate, interest in a subject.

"It's not just a disparate bunch of people thrown together on a charter flight to Los Angeles."

Catherine Bell, owner of the Epicurean Workshop, a specialist gourmet store in Auckland, says such tours are particularly good for "say, a woman, whose husband might have no interest in the theme."

Bell's theme is cooking and she plans to take her first group to South Australia in March to sample wine and food. "And I know from my own travels, it's not as much fun doing that kind of thing on your own. It also gives you confidence if something goes wrong."

Willie Salave'a, a travel marketing specialist contracted to Budget Travel, says Kiwis like to travel together. He is working on several themed travel packages, including a dance music enthusiasts' tour of
Europe."

For the older generation they feel safer - there's a comfort zone. And for the younger generation, it's a guaranteed party and a chance to socialise."

Then there are the more apparent selling points. Some of the activities the theme traveller undertakes will be cheaper because everything's been bought in bulk by the tour organiser. However, others will
be more expensive because you can't choose the budget option.

On some tours you will be paying extra for the celebrity or expert guide. But some guides aren't paid and just come along for the ride at no cost to them.

Some of these guides - for instance, Hamish Keith leading an art and architecture tour of New York - are experts in the field and will provide relevant information and contacts. Other celebrity guides are just that - celebrities, there only to provide colour.

"We'd expect them to mingle with the guests maybe one or two hours a day, but
that's all," explains one of the organisers.

In both cases there will usually also be a local guide speaking the native language and organising the nuts and bolts of the trip.

So the main benefit of themed travel is that you'll get to do unique things you never perhaps would have managed to organise for yourself, because you lacked either the time, the ability or the right connections.

"No money could buy some of the experiences we offer," says Robin. For example, during an operatic tour of Europe the group will dine with performers from shows that they will later attend.

And Bell and Walley say that, having been to the destinations already, the organisers have done the necessary preliminary research.

"We can cut the pitfalls," Walley says. "We won't be taking anyone to the boring places where there's nothing to see."

How to choose the right trip:

* The right price and the right theme are obvious prerequisites.

* Then read through a detailed itinerary and make sure it suits your needs and desires. Check the pace of the tour. Are you going to walk all day - and if so, are you fit enough to do so? Do you want to get up at 6 am every day?

* Will you have any free time? How much time is accounted for? Be clear about what kind of activities are involved. Check the descriptions of these activities are not too vague. For instance, if you're going to see the "museums of Vienna," which museums? If you'll be "eating local cuisine," at which restaurants? Will the guide find a cafe on the night, or have the organisers already booked at the best dining places?

* Often these tours are based on twin-share. To avoid bunking down with a snoring stranger, try to find a travelling companion to go with you. Experts say this kind of thing can make or break an experience.

* Find out how big or small the group will be and how comfortable you feel with that. If it's large, will you get enough time with your expert guide? You may also like to ask whether your guides know anything about group dynamics and how they plan to integrate the group successfully.

* Try to check the integrity of the organising agent. If you are on a design tour, will you be staying in a designer hotel? Some of the best agents will offer pre-trip educational lectures or provide supplementary information on the place you're going to. Before Bushwise Women took a group to Vanuatu it provided all its customers with a book let on the islands' culture.

* Does the company deal with you personally, or does it treat you like a booking number? Is it happy to field your inquiries and discuss whether something on the itinerary is worth doing?

* Read the fine print. If some operators don't secure the numbers needed to ensure bulk booking discounts, the tour won't be going anywhere.