Research is a big part of our job as travel designers. See why FAM trip help us to improve and offer the best experience to our travelers. Being up to date and following local trends is important. In my job there are of course so many ways to explore a country like France, and research all of the nice spots, meet and bond with guides and verify top hotels. One way is on my own vacation time; another is at the boss’s expense during a slow month in the office. In this article I will explain another way. I will tell you what a FAM trip is (it means familiarization) and how it is organized. I will give you a summary of my recent trip to Provence and exploration of the tiny corners of the Luberon. It will make you have wanderlust, and perhaps also have a bit of jealousy for the job that we do.
The article is outlined as follows:
· What is a FAM travel?
· FAM trip in Provence organized by the local government tourism office
· A caveat, and my professional position
There are a few perks to working in the travel industry and one of them is FAM Trips. FAM Trip stands for “familiarization trip” and it is a trip exclusively for travel agents that are provided by suppliers or travel operators. These trips are provided as a way for professionals to gain an understanding of the benefits of different regions, and what vendors have to offer, so that they can then sell to their prospective clients. When you’ve seen a monument, landscape, boutique hotel and been guided yourself, you can better help your clients understand what to expect. The more first-hand experience you have, the better you will be able to choose the perfect vacation for your clients based on their wants and needs.
Here in France, we use a term that is a little clearer, we call them Educ-tours as in educational tours. The name says everything, and in my time I have been lucky enough to visit Burgundy, Rhone Valley and now Provence on Educ-tours.
I have just come back from a FAM trip organized (and of course paid for) by Vaucluse Provence Attractivité, a tourism development agency funded by local government. They are based in Avignon, in the south of France. Their aim is to encourage travel professionals to send travelers to their region (instead of say, the Loire, Bordeaux, Tuscany in Italy or Rioja in Spain). The Educ-tour I was on was focused on cycling as well. This is a theme that I love, and am happy to be proposing it to a large number of my clients. It did not stop me taking a general tourist view of the region and the suppliers, and extrapolating the quality of each supplier even for a non-cyclist.
Day 1 saw us meet up in l’Isle sur la Sorgue and meet up with other travel professionals, and the organizers. We were only six travel professionals which is very few; and the reason for this is of course the threat of COVID and quarantine for some travel agents based outside France. Introductions and pleasantries aside, we quickly started sharing stories (and broke down any fears about sharing secrets between competing operators) and started what were four active days of discovery in Provence.
The next days rolled into one, quite literally, as we were on bikes. The bikes were provided by local rental shops and were set up perfectly to our size and needs. It felt like the red carpet was being laid out in front of me the whole trip, and this was evident when they modified the pedals perfectly to my needs. Day one and two were electric bikes, days three and four were what the French now call ‘Vélo Muscular’, meaning you use your leg muscles (I am just waiting to see if this crosses over into the English speaking world). We went on some of the nicest rolling trails, and bike paths, or quiet country roads. In general, the routes were perfectly scenic and quite pretty. We only had one crash.
The guides were chosen for their local or technical knowledge and were all licensed. I think the best discussions in our group following the four days, was over the choice of a good guide. In the domain of cycling you see, it is important to be 1) A licensed cycling guide who can safely and efficiently help a group or amateurs ride from A to B, and 2). A person with a superb character that makes you have a fun moment, and teaches you a thing or two about the region and its highlights. Finding this perfect mix is always hard, and it reinforced to me the value of a good guide, and how they can make or break an experience.
We changed hotel each night as we traversed eastwards across the Luberon. Each hotel was different than the other, and appealed more or less to many of my travelers. The most important factor was meeting each hotelier, and this I did at two of the hotels. Meeting each hotelier (one was an ultra-runner, the other had a superb career in Swiss and UK 5-star hotels) was important, as the back-story behind the internet reviews and client feedback, goes a long way to encouraging me to send guests their way. I simply had to do room inspections at another three hotels we passed ‘en-route’. This was easy during the day, and does not take me long. I can usually get a feel for the hotel from the lobby in two minutes, and then the room takes another five minutes with a member of staff, perhaps we talk negotiated pricing, perhaps not. A quick reconnaissance is not the same as staying the whole night, but with 18,424 hotels in France a stay is not always possible….
The monuments and restaurants were paid for by the organizers and we had some lovely meals, and superb moments. One guide had an exclusive key, and led us into the Chateau of the Maquis de Sade. The visit was exclusive, and made me want to propose it to my next interested travelers. One special visit was to a luxury wool manufacturing factory and museum. The visit then saw us meeting with the passionate owner, as he explained the family dedication and know- involved in producing high-end wool items. I only hope I can get private tours here that are even half as exciting.
So as you can probably tell from the enthusiastic tone of my voice, I loved my visit to the Vaucluse and Luberon, and I will certainly be proposing Provence to my clients. It was always a leading destination in my ‘repertoire’ anyway and I suspect that I will push it further in the future. The thing is, the FAM trip was well done and the ensemble of suppliers were top.
I need to add a big caveat, that I think most professionals in the industry would agree with. Some of the suppliers were not adapted for my travelers and so I would never propose them. But that is ok; some other agents might do so. The second thing is that as a travel professional, despite receiving free lodgings, and meals for four days I don’t feel obliged to sell only the FAM trips services. If a client asks me for Normandy landing beaches, I would never propose Cycling in Provence, however, if they are a blank slate, and indicate that they desire either Bordeaux or Provence, perhaps my recent increase in regional knowledge would tip the balance in favour of Provençal cuisine, rolling landscapes and gorgeous villages of the Luberon.
I am truly grateful to the FAM trip organizers for inviting me on this trip and showing off their region. I have been tempted by the fare on offer and I am now convinced – cycling in Provence (or general tourism) is a must-do. The top quality suppliers I met, and sites I explored reinforced this. The only thing that could stop this of course, is if another beautiful region of France proposes a FAM trip and offer that tops what I have just seen. This would be difficult but of course, never, say never, right Basque Country – hint hint)?
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If you enjoyed this post, check out my previous post on how to optimize your vacation in France.
