Group Travel Companies Are Still a Thing. How?
For both the companies selling and the travelers buying, group travel isn’t as unthinkable as it sounds. Broadening the appeal, however, offers a real pandemic paradox.
After several trips with boutique tour company Mango Africa Safaris, including a custom tour to Madagascar last year, Irene Bowers and David Register were intrigued by an email newsletter inviting them on a group travel experience closer to home. The pandemic had scuttled other, farther-flung plans by the retired Oregon couple, so they decided to get in the car and drive to Montana for a “safari” on the Yellowstone River—complete with such “glamping” accoutrements as a real bed in a private tent, bathrooms with hot showers, and gourmet meals from a top local chef.
On their trip, in August, they were rewarded with views of grizzlies, black and gray wolves, and ravens feasting on a bison carcass. Plus, there was a rafting excursion on the river—which they shared with nine strangers and a handful of guides.