Embracing technology to meet the needs of emerging trends and helping our partner travel agents and tour operators expand their travel offerings & services, Easia Active & its parent DMC Easia Travel are proud to introduce you to our latest product line; Easia Self-Guided Tours (or ‘ESGT’).
Developed to appeal to a consumer base that typically doesn’t book through travel agents or tour operators, as well as the growing demographic of young-minded and tech-savvy travelers who value freedom and individuality, ESGT offer travelers a flexible way to explore a neighborhood, a city, or even a large region of a country, in their own time and at their own pace, with the convenience of their smartphone to lead them on their journey.
ESGT can also be integrated to complement traditional guided experiences to create hybrid itineraries, offering the best blend of immersive sightseeing and traveler service for the modern era.
What is a Self-Guided Tour?
For those new to the concept of self-guided tours:
Note: This video is available as an unbranded version, for you to utilize in your own sales & marketing initiatives
Not a replacement for guided tours (at all!)
We love guided tours and always will. It’s one of the core elements of our industry and not something we’ll ever change. If you tell us that your travelers still prefer the professional guidance of one of our expert guides, we’ll be pleased to hear that.
The simple truth is that no technology will ever be able to replace the experience of a tour delivered by an expert guide. Therefore, guided tours and self-guided tours should be seen as two different products and not as interchangeable alternatives.
Aside from simply appealing to the non-tour takers, ESGT can also be seen as a complementing service. For example, to help your travelers explore a city or a region by themselves during a day at leisure, either walking, hiking, or cycling.
All Easia Self-Guided Tours can be integrated to complement traditional guided experiences to create ‘hybrid’ itineraries as well, offering the best blend of sightseeing and service for the modern adventure traveler.
In summary: the Easia Self-Guided Tour range has not been created to replace guided tours!
Why Easia Self-Guided Tours?
So, now that’s out of the way, let’s dive into what sets Easia Self-Guided Tours apart. And, as you might have already guessed, it’s strongly connected to what we do best: personalization.
A deep dive into the characteristics of self-guided tours
If, after watching the two videos above, you still have remaining questions in regards to the ‘who’, ‘why’, ‘what’ and ‘how’ of Easia’s Self-Guided Tours, together with our parent DMC Easia Travel we’ve prepared an explainer series containing 7 in-depth articles to help you and your team get fully on-board with the possibilities and characteristics of these modern tours.
Easia Self-Guided Tours come in many shapes and sizes, from short city excursions to multi-day autonomous hiking or cycling itineraries. In this article, we dig a little deeper into the different self-guided tour types available.
Easia Self-Guided Tours cater to a large variety of travel consumers, from young adults to digital-savvy adventure-seeking retirees, and all demographics between. In this article, we take a closer look at some of the travelers we think Easia Self-Guided Tours fit best.
In this article, we take a closer look at what the inspiration was for us to team up with our friends at Easia Travel and create a range of self-guided tours and why we believe it makes sense for the future success of our partner TO/TA’s.
As a professional travel agent, how would you go about pitching and selling the Easia Self-Guided Tours (ESGT) to your audience? Just in case you’re unsure on how to answer this, we’ve listed a few tips to help you better understand and visualize some natural opportunities for adding or embedding ESGT to your future proposals.
This article explains what makes ‘hybrid’ self-guided tours an interesting and easy-to-adopt travel product for travel agents and tour operators, especially for those who may be new to offering self-guided programs.
In this article we take a look at how Easia’s core values transition into your travelers leaving a positive impact on the destinations they visit during a self-guided tour.
Ready to start adding self-guided tours to your product portfolio? Great! In this article, we answer some of the most common questions your prospective customers might pose when considering their purchase, as well as any further remaining queries you might have as a salesperson.
Examples of self-guided tours
Now that we have the theory covered, let’s dive into some practical examples of the self-guided tours available.
Note: In order to access the tour’s factsheets as linked to below, you’ll need to be logged in to your Easia Travel Agent Hub account. In case you don’t have an account yet, you can simply sign up by clicking ‘sign up here and following the instructions.
- A stand-alone self-guided excursion
Imagine your travelers visiting Laos on an active & immersive journey led by experienced local Laotian guides for the majority of their excursions. To provide a break in your travelers routine, you opt for having them explore the cultural and historical sites of the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Luang Prabang at their own pace and time by the hand of a self-guided roadbook on their mobile device:
LAOS – Luang Prabang – Self-Guided City Tour
2. A fully autonomous self-guided cycling module
A self-guided cycling tour to explore the incredible Angkor Wat Archaeological Park through the flourishing forest, local villages, and impressive temples. Pick from 3 different itineraries to allow your travelers to cycle at their own rhythm, exploring off-the-beaten paths and discovering hidden temples lost in the jungle.
CAMBODIA – Siem Reap – Discover Angkor Self-guided cycling module 4D3N
3. A full self-guided journey through Thailand
This experience provides an in-depth discovery of Thailand’s classic destinations such as Bangkok, Ayutthaya, Chiang Mai, and Phuket with the help of pre-loaded itineraries on your traveler’s smartphones.
THAILAND – Classic Thailand self-guided 10D9N
How to learn more?
Similar to handcrafting guided journeys, the options for customizing itineraries containing self-guided excursions are vast and depend on many different factors. In order to gain a clear and concise understanding of the possibilities, and how to create the optimal tours and solutions for your business, we’d recommend beginning by exploring the possibilities together, to create the solution that fits your travelers and your business best.
Do you have more questions about the Easia Self-Guided Tours, or would you like to receive more examples of self-guided excursions, modules, and full itineraries for Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, as well as price estimations?
Simply leave us your email and we’ll get in touch with you shortly;
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