InTouch is still young, but already creating a buzz. Our new concept in travel has sparked more than just a little interest, and below you can find some of what the world's press has to say about us...
Doing as the Romans Do!
InTouch Travel makes cultural tourism a reality!
--Written by Ashley Gartland
WHEN PLANNING A VACATION, YOU CAN reserve a seat on a plane or a train. You can
book a weekend at a glamorous hotel, and you can make reservations at the finest four-star
restaurants.With the click of a mouse, you can schedule a massage at a critically acclaimed spa
or map a route of your destination’s top tourist sites with ease. But even with all these travel
industry advances, reserving a person to provide a true, close-up view of another culture
remained a difficult prospect indeed.
That was until former tour operator staffer Andrea Nims founded InTouch Travel, the first company devoted exclusively to helping travelers make personal contact with knowledgeable, outgoing hosts in dozens of cities across Europe. Nims says her former role in the tourism industry provided her vision for InTouch Travel. “Working for a tour operator that offered luxury wine and food vacations to France and Italy, I learned early on that my American guests and travelers missed getting to know the local people,” she says. “When we provided local contacts, however brief, it became the highlight of their trip.”
Born and raised in Northern Germany, Nims’ upbringing and education also influenced her company’s focus. Nims holds a master’s degree in international business and has worked for tour operators in Germany, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and the United States. It was while working in Seattle that post-trip calls to clients unearthed proof that travelers were looking for cultural tourism experiences. “Cultural tourism has become quite popular with experienced travelers on the lookout for opportunities to interact with people who live in the region they are visiting,” says Nims. “They expect more than traditional sightseeing, and they’re right. It’s a great way to get closer to the heart of unfamiliar local cultures.”
Since 2005, InTouch has assisted experienced travelers in broadening their activities beyond guidebooks and traditional sightseeing by connecting them with her growing band of tour guides. InTouch clients can register to spend all or part of their trip with a local English-speaking tour guide who tailors itineraries to their interests, be they gastronomy or high fashion. Whether the host is a winemaker, an esteemed cookbook author, an hotelier, or an everyday Joe, travelers return home having received greater insight into another culture. And with nearly 90 hosts spread about 13 European countries, the possibilities and places to do so are vast.
The culturally savvy hosts help travelers experience life as a local rather than as a temporary visitor by offering experiences that focus on interaction with local people. Nims can arrange winery tours with a certified wine expert or help travelers explore French culinary culture in the Rhone Valley with a local bed and breakfast owner. In Amsterdam, she arranges tours focused on arts and antiques with a museum guide and links travelers with a retired theater director to explore the region’s art, music, and theater culture. Nims herself even acts as one of the company’s few North American hosts and offers tours of her hometown, Seattle. Her tours often include a hike and picnic to enjoy the region’s natural beauty and a visit to famed Seattle spots such as the Pike Place Market.
To continue providing such experiences, Nims keeps in constant communication with her guides. In a single day, she might chat with future hosts in China, set up a stay for travelers heading to Spain, and fine-tune a program for a guide hosting two large families in historic Rome. “Every day is a new adventure that reaches me in the form of an e-mail. Tomorrow might bring e-mails from Greece, Japan, the U.S., and the U.K.,” she says. And as Nims continues to grow and expand her company, she plans to identify hosts in new markets including locales in North America and in Asia.
To date, more than 150 travelers have benefited from InTouch tours; as the interest in cultural tourism continues to grow, Nims anticipates that number will increase exponentially. “The more people travel, the more they become aware of the culture and environment of the places they travel to,” she says. “[This leads to] a richer travel experience; greater desire to travel;
and more cultural respect, tolerance, and understanding of cultural differences. The latter is what I like the best. [It’s] a win-win situation for all involved, for the traveler as well as for the host.”
That win-win situation gives travelers reason for continued exploration and Nims even greater passion for travel and her career. “[With] InTouch Travel, the traveler becomes a visitor, an honored guest free to explore what interests him,” she says. “With his new friends, he gets to know their streets and sidewalks, their shops and cafés, their children and their pets, and their lives in a different cultural setting. And I myself get such an enjoyment out of seeing the guest return and hearing their happy stories that are now memories. My passion, my interest, and my hobby are combined into this one job I really like waking up to every morning.”
