Surrounded by Knowledge: Transforming client experience with authentic cultural connection

By Melissa DaSilva

Deputy Chief Executive Officer of TTC Tour Brands (Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Brendan Vacations, Costsaver, Contiki, and Luxury Gold )

It’s undeniable: Modern travel has evolved beyond simply checking off bucket list items. Yes, travelers are hoping to visit their dream destinations and must-see sites, but that’s just one facet of their vacation. Those same guests also want deeper, more authentic connections with their destinations.

They said it. We heard it.

TTC Tour Brands has followed this culturally integrative mindset for decades, consistently drawing on our knowledge of global communities, 100+ years of experience and the passion of our Travel Directors and Local Specialists to bring our guests immersive, deeply real travel, offering guests moments they couldn’t find on their own. 

Beyond being a hallmark of how we think about tour travel, by drawing on knowledge to inform authenticity, we progressively built our iconic, unforgettable moments like Be My Guest and MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experience into every tour.

It takes work to find just the right places, plates and people to give guests what they want. But the challenge is matching that with a connection they may have never considered, striking a balance between the unexpected, the authentic and often, the delicious.

Breaking Bread, Bridging Cultures

Foodie travel is easily one of the most significant trends that shows no signs of slowing down. It’s not just the rare dishes, upscale dining or the elite tables. There’s a strong demand among travelers for genuine and accessible dining experiences where guests can break bread together with local communities. Think “I want to eat where the locals eat,” and that’s where Trafalgar’s Be My Guest shines.

Be My Guest brings our guests into homes, restaurants, farms and orchards where real people, share their culture and heritage, with travelers and show their pride for what they do. They foster cultural exchange through food, making every bite a story worth telling.

Consistently a top “Must-Visit” destination, Italy is celebrated for its eating, and after a long day of touring the Vatican, seeing the ruins and tossing a coin into the Trevi Fountain, what a Be My Guest Experience brings is a sense of community, and a real “Famiglia Style” dining cultural experience. It’s not just eating dinner at the end of the day – it’s meeting the family who owns and operates the restaurant and sharing Nonna’s personal favorite pasta dish made just for the occasion with everyone in the group.

Amplifying Local Voices

In addition to exploring culture and heritage, embedded in the careful selection of our MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences is a focus on conservation, connection, cultural preservation, and also diversity and inclusion, and wildlife protection.

Connecting our guests with projects from TTC Tour Brands’ nonprofit TreadRight through MAKE TRAVEL MATTER® Experiences means their travel supports the communities in the places that we visit beyond just the high tourism centers.

These experiences bring cultures, traditions and heritage arts into focus such as traditional frame loom weaving atelier Laboratorio Giuditta Brozzetti in Italy, The Cristina Heeren Foundation of Flamenco Art in Spain, and the Warrior Women experience in Jasper, Canada.

Matricia Bauer founded Warrior Women to share educational Sturgeon Lake Cree First Nations women experiences to travelers based on traditions and learnings passed down within their community. It not only offers a different perspective for guests, but it allows the Warrior Women group the opportunity to put their traditions into practice, bringing outsiders into their culture for a rare look at customs nearly lost through colonialism.

Bauer has said that when tourists attend her events and are specifically interested in the work of Warrior Women, a visit becomes a reciprocal exchange providing a unique space for relationships to be formed, authentically.

“If colonization is defined as the lack of relationship, then decolonization is the creation of relationship, and tourism is the connector,” said Bauer recently. “I get to tell my story through my voice.”

Unlocking The World, One Connection At A Time

It is easy to say (and commonly heard) that, “Travel is the best way to better understand our world.”

Behind the warmth of that sentiment is our reality: Vast networks of people who are working in tandem to make travel a reality, all committed to sharing global, cultural experiences. From sourcing and prioritizing souvenir purchases directly from local artisans to vetting and curating experiences that benefit locals in their communities, we have built a worldwide community relationship founded on trust, and a passion for sharing our world with a range of tour options to meet any and everyone.

About the Author

Melissa DaSilva is Deputy Chief Executive Officer of TTC Tour Brands with an industry career spanning 30 years and has worked in both the US and the UK. She has been recognized for her ability to rapidly adjust in a changing business environment, resulting in enhanced business practices, increased productivity, and profits. She has a proven success record of recruiting and developing strong, collaborative teams and delivering consistency in multi-channel organizations

The Travel Corporation family of brands is deeply committed to MAKE TRAVEL MATTER. We recognize our responsibility to ensure our impact on the planet, the people we visit, and the wildlife we find there. Choosing to travel with us means choosing a travel company that puts sustainability at the heart of everything we do.

Travel is both a personal passion and a professional pursuit. She is motivated by the impact travel has and believes that travel has a tremendously positive effect on people. It helps broaden perspectives through the connectivity of shared experiences of adventure, exploration, learning and laughter showing how we are all more alike than different.

An avid traveler herself to more than 50 countries, Melissa currently resides in Southern California with her Brazilian husband and two daughters, with whom she has shared the travel bug.

About TTC Tour Brands 

The ease of touring has never been more important nor relevant, and no one does tours better than TTC Tour Brands. The portfolio includes the award-winning brands of Luxury Gold, Insight Vacations, Trafalgar, Brendan Vacations, Costsaver and Contiki. TTC Tour Brands are the global leaders in tours for any and everyone.  From budget to luxury and everything in between, the portfolio brings agents access to over 1000 tours, across 80+ countries via one single sales, reservations and marketing team, with the added ease of a single sign on booking platform.