Next year, 2025, will be the 100th anniversary of the founding of Tauck, and at this major milestone the tour operator is taking a serious look at its concept of group touring. Historically, the Tauck tour might have carried as many as 40 in a group. That was more or less the capacity of the standard touring motorcoach.
In 2008, Tauck introduced a series of smaller group travel, carrying an average of 24. Now with the small group tours accounting for more business than the traditional large-group model, the company is pushing farther in that direction.
The company is now trying out a new smaller group series lowering the average tour size from 24 to 15. Tauck is calling the new series, logically enough, Smaller Group.
To see a major company with a 100-year legacy moving in this direction is interesting. Tauck may be a centenarian, but she’s a sure-footed cat and is not likely to be overtaken by any changes in the market. What it is doing can be taken as something based on solid evidence.
It gives a glimpse into how travelers are evolving. The group tour has often been predicted to go by the wayside in favor of independent travel.
And though independent travel has certainly grown, as the means to comfortably travel independently have evolved, the appeal of traveling in groups is still there. But the appeal of traveling in groups is still there.
Undoubtedly, there’s an attraction to being able to travel independently and not have to coordinate all your moves with a lot of other people. I would not want to always move in a group. But even with those advantages of independent travel now easily available, travel in groups is still popular. It has another kind of appeal.
One of the main reasons for group travel historically was to go in on transportation expenses with a bunch of other people, thereby lowering the cost per traveler. The group purchasing power also reduces prices for lodging, and anything else the group purchases as a group. This can greatly reduce the cost. So there was always that, and there is still that. Cost is still an advantage of group travel.
But it was never just about cost, either. There is something about people in groups. In any kind of group, any gathering of people around a common purpose, there is a kind of buzz from the interaction between people. People have magnetism, vibes, chemistry, energy. At a conference the two-person exchanges are multiplied by the thousands, and the energy generated is similarly magnified to palpable levels. It can be exhilarating.
There is definitely something about people in groups. We are tribal creatures, and when we find ourselves associated with others with some common focus or objective, we assume tribal behavior. Our highly evolved social skills give us the power to gather in large groups with little friction.
When you think about the old-style group tour that’s often been parodied in movies, yes, there are hazards, like having to be in the presence of an obnoxious person. That can happen, of course. But I am amazed to see in the many kinds of groups I have been in, how well people do conduct themselves in group situations. It seems to be deeply imprinted on us to observe certain kinds of protocols when dealing with other people in social situations. Sometimes I think people are getting better at it.
It’s amazing to me to observe how well people actually do get along with groups of strangers. It’s heartening to see it. It gives hope for humanity. Maybe that’s why humans have survived so well on earth, so far anyway. Socially we are highly adept. And that’s where we ultimately get our strength. One single human up against a lion or other large predator doesn’t stand much of a chance. Without other human beings to invent, manufacture and distribute to him a gun, and tech him how to use it, he would be easy prey for a lion. Humans became the best hunters because they hunted in groups.
So although group touring was long ago predicted to become extinct, that has not happened. Instead, the basic form of the group tour has been disassembled and reassembled, and twisted and stretched and turned and morphed in as many ways as tour operators can think of as they experiment with different ways to conduct a tour. A tour is an event involving a number of participants in motion. It’s a kind of party, in a way, and there are infinite ways to approach it.
So now we see Tauck following the preferences of its market and offering an even smaller size of group travel. A group of 15 has many of the advantages of a larger group, but to different degrees. Smaller groups are more lithe, they can get around easier, they can go places that could not accommodate a large group. They can travel small European city streets in vehicles that are not outsized for their environment. A participant can expect more engagement with the tour leader, or people who are giving presentations than might be possible in a much larger group. There are many advantages. You do have to give up a little of the cost advantage that is provided by the large group tours. You can’t escape that. You pay for exclusivity, that’s nothing new.
So, the next big thing is …. Smaller, right? It gives a lot of fuel for wordplay.
Jennifer Tombaugh, president of Tauck, recently posted on LinkedIn: “If small is big, then Even Smaller is even bigger, right? Certainly these guests on among Tauck’s first Even Smaller experiences think so! Averaging just 15 guests, these are the way to forge even a deeper connection to fellow travelers and the amazing destinations we visit.”
Tauck introduced pilot versions of its Smaller Group series this year, rolling out three tours: America’s Canyonlands; A Week in Spain, and A Week in Ireland. Apparently Tauck’s pilot programs have been well received, and the company is expanding the offering for 2025 with 12 programs across North America, Europe and Africa.
The company still has a solid business in its large group tours. They too are being adapted to appeal to changing preferences of ever-more-experienced travelers, but they are doing it within the large-group plan, which does bring a cost savings, and also brings on the kinds of thrills that one can get by being part of a large group. Large groups can also do things small groups can’t do. Some kinds of entertainment require a large audience to be affordable.
So Tauck is keeping its large groups, keeping its small groups and now expanding its Smaller Group travel. That’s good. It’s expanding the ways it operates its programs. The basic tour model is malleable, extremely adaptable, because it’s based on one of the most basic human activities, traveling in groups. Humans have been doing that as long as there have been humans. And our instincts make us quite at home in that situation.
It’s good to see the group travel model continuously reshaped, reworked and re-energized.
David Cogswell is a freelance writer working remotely, from wherever he is at the moment. Born at the dead center of the United States during the last century, he has been incessantly moving and exploring for decades. His articles have appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, Fortune, Fox News, Luxury Travel Magazine, Travel Weekly, Travel Market Report, Travel Agent Magazine, TravelPulse.com, Quirkycruise.com, and other publications. He is the author of four books and a contributor to several others. He was last seen somewhere in the Northeast US.
