In the last year, Austin Adventures has seen double digit growth in custom domestic itineraries, especially in the National Parks during the Centennial Year celebration in 2016. Austin Adventures had its highest bookings ever in the National Parks last year (35 percent above its previous record) with last-minute bookings continuing to come in at an unprecedented level, especially for custom, luxury trips to the parks.
“For years, custom trips were more synonymous with Africa, but because of Americans’ desire to stay a little closer to home of late, this area is growing,” says Dan Austin, president of Austin Adventures. “The National Parks have been especially hot and that is an area that Austin Adventures guides truly know inside and out and are trained to provide our guests with amazing access and experiences."
Dan also notes that while the company offers a variety of guided trips for families and adults, you can also travel to the parks in Five Star luxury on a trip personalized for a specific group. “But you need a tour operator who knows the parks and is prepared to go off a script that is unique and different,” he says. “You don’t have to go around the world to have a once-in-a-lifetime amazing experience.”
Wilderness Travel also saw growth in private trip bookings from 2015 to 2016 and are already seeing high interest for this year, as well. Barbara Banks, director of new trip development and marketing for the company said that they have found their guests like to travel on both group and private itineraries. "It is interesting for us to see that many of our clients switch between group trips and private trips, depending on their needs," she says. "We had initially expected that there would be two types of clients, group vs. private, but that hasn’t been the case."
