Tailor or custom-made travels, is increasing in popularity worldwide and have been doing so the last couple of years. However there are some questions you might ask yourself: 1. What does tailor or custom made travels mean? 2. Why should you choose custom-made travels? And 3. is custom made travels something for me? In this blog post I will try to answer these questions, so that you will know more about this form for travel, and you can include it as an option when planning your next trip.
Photo: Gullbotn, Norway; Renate Skar Skulstad
What does custom or tailor-made travels mean?
If we simply look it up in the Cambridge dictionary “tailor” and “custom” made is defined as the following:
Tailor made “specially made for a particular purpose”
Custom made “specially made for a particular person”
So in other words tailor or custom-made travels is to customize your travel based on your needs, and wishes, this to give you the best-suited and unique experience as possible. The level of customization can be on parts of your trip or on the trip as a whole as the latter will be defined as a fully customized travel. The levels of customization might vary depending on your needs for customization and/or also the size of your wallet. So on the other hand you don’t have to be loaded with cash to customize parts of your trip, it can be custom-made and still fit your budget perfectly. Custom made is as explained before to fit your needs, wants and wishes for the trip and that also includes how much your budget is for the travel at stake.
Photo: Ustedalsfjorden, Geilo; Renate Skar Skulstad
Why should you custom-made travels?
The traditional package-travels (fits one does not suit all), are now challenged by more customized travels to fit the customers needs and wishes, this have been a travel trend for years and it has not seeded it’s peak yet and maybe this will take over as the new form for travel. But what makes custom-made travels so popular? The idea of getting to see and experience exactly what you want and go a bit off the beaten track to enjoy it in peace and harmony might be one trigger, because the idea of standing in line to experience the nature and what it has to offer is not something all people are so very keen on.
When customers choose custom-made travels they take the knowledge of the tour-operator to another level and make it kind of their own. When done correctly the travel agency sews together a package made for the particular customers needs and wishes and adapts to them. So the main difference from traditional package tours is that the travel agency adapts to the particular customers wishes and needs not the other way around. In this way the customer has more power over how the trip will be, and they can adapt their expectations to the reality of what the tour-operator can offer based on their needs and wishes. Custom-made travelers seek a unique experience, and it is the tour-operators task to fulfill it. We at fjord& see that it is especially popular with custom-made travels for the American market, but a quick look on the internet states that this is a world-wide trend and that it also have reached China.
Photo: Aurlandsfjorden, Norway; Henrik Tue Bang
Is custom or tailor-made travels something for me?
Traditionally custom-made travels was targeted at the luxury segment, this have changed with the time. Now you can perfectly custom-make a travel based on your budget, if you have something that is very important for you on your trip you can choose to custom-make parts of you trip and not the whole. For example if you have the wish to see fjords and mountains in Norway, we can put together a suggested itinerary for you to review based on the information you have given us. The level of information flow between you as a customer us as a tailor is the critical success factor when tailoring a travel to best suit your needs and wishes. So in simple words, custom or tailor-made can be something for you. Please contact us at fjord& for more information on how to tailor or custom you next travel to Norway, we are always happy to be at your service.
Written by; Renate Skar Skulstad, March 2018
A blog about nature adventures and local culture in Norway. 