Group Travel Tour Considerations
If you are single or intend to travel to an unfamiliar location then a group travel tour may be a good option for you.
A group travel tour is one where you buy a ticket and the tour company will take you and other people on a set itinerary. Usually, these tours include accommodation. If you are travelling alone then you will often be partnered with one or more other people of the same gender to share accommodation.
This is usually not a real problem - but it can be. For example, I have been on numerous group tours and on one occasion I had to share a room with a man who snored extremely loudly. It was quite impossible to sleep. The first night I did not sleep at all. Yes, really, no sleep. The next morning I approached the tour leader and explained the situation. I was fortunate in that there were an odd number of men and I could partner with someone else for the remainder of the tour. The snorer ended up getting a private room by chance.
Be aware that you understand what is included in the tour cost and what is excluded. Many tours that I have been on have presented their itineraries to seem like they were chock full of excursions. They were, but almost every one required additional payment during the tour. This was manageable but annoying. Also be aware of what meals are included and which you will need to pay extra for. Budgeting for your out-of-pocket expenses on your tour is very important because you could be caught short with insufficient funds. Also be sure that you will have access to banking facilities if you plan on using cash machines and so on. For example, I went on a tour to Cuba only to discover that all but one of my ATM cards did not work because they were owned by subsidiaries of American banks. Only one card worked, but that account had almost no funds. I had a nerve-wracking few days of frantic calls back home tracking down a friend to deposit funds into that account.
The only other real problems with a group tour that I have experienced are personality clashes and that fact that you are on a group itinerary. As far as personality clashes go - this is no reason to avoid a group tour. You can just associate with other people on the tour. The opposite is also a possibility in that you may develop new friendships with some amazing people. In one of my tours, two people who met ended up getting married.
A common complaint is that the tour is rushed and on a fixed itinerary. This is generally true; however, what many people don't realize is that many of these tours will take you to places that you may not have visited or even known about if you were travelling on your own.
Finally, I would recommend a group tour provided that: it is a reputable company that has been conducting the tour for some time, the itinerary includes most or all of the major cities and attractions that you hoped to visit, you are clear on the costs and what is included and excluded. If all of these criteria are met then I would only make one final recommendation - view the tour as an introduction to the areas that you will be visiting. You will probably wish that you could stay in some places longer that your itinerary allows, but just make a note of it as a place that you could plan to visit on your own or with a friend another time.
A group travel tour is one where you buy a ticket and the tour company will take you and other people on a set itinerary. Usually, these tours include accommodation. If you are travelling alone then you will often be partnered with one or more other people of the same gender to share accommodation.
This is usually not a real problem - but it can be. For example, I have been on numerous group tours and on one occasion I had to share a room with a man who snored extremely loudly. It was quite impossible to sleep. The first night I did not sleep at all. Yes, really, no sleep. The next morning I approached the tour leader and explained the situation. I was fortunate in that there were an odd number of men and I could partner with someone else for the remainder of the tour. The snorer ended up getting a private room by chance.
Be aware that you understand what is included in the tour cost and what is excluded. Many tours that I have been on have presented their itineraries to seem like they were chock full of excursions. They were, but almost every one required additional payment during the tour. This was manageable but annoying. Also be aware of what meals are included and which you will need to pay extra for. Budgeting for your out-of-pocket expenses on your tour is very important because you could be caught short with insufficient funds. Also be sure that you will have access to banking facilities if you plan on using cash machines and so on. For example, I went on a tour to Cuba only to discover that all but one of my ATM cards did not work because they were owned by subsidiaries of American banks. Only one card worked, but that account had almost no funds. I had a nerve-wracking few days of frantic calls back home tracking down a friend to deposit funds into that account.
The only other real problems with a group tour that I have experienced are personality clashes and that fact that you are on a group itinerary. As far as personality clashes go - this is no reason to avoid a group tour. You can just associate with other people on the tour. The opposite is also a possibility in that you may develop new friendships with some amazing people. In one of my tours, two people who met ended up getting married.
A common complaint is that the tour is rushed and on a fixed itinerary. This is generally true; however, what many people don't realize is that many of these tours will take you to places that you may not have visited or even known about if you were travelling on your own.
Finally, I would recommend a group tour provided that: it is a reputable company that has been conducting the tour for some time, the itinerary includes most or all of the major cities and attractions that you hoped to visit, you are clear on the costs and what is included and excluded. If all of these criteria are met then I would only make one final recommendation - view the tour as an introduction to the areas that you will be visiting. You will probably wish that you could stay in some places longer that your itinerary allows, but just make a note of it as a place that you could plan to visit on your own or with a friend another time.
Source...