Grantourismo is a personal travel experiment, an ongoing project, an inspirational resource for travellers, and a new way of working as much as travelling.
Every now and again Grantourismo will form partnerships, as we did with HomeAwayUK for a year in 2010-11. Our relationship with HomeAwayUK was not only the first for Grantourismo, it was a first-of-its-kind partnership that redefined the way in which travel companies inspire travellers and in which travel companies and travel writers can work together. Read more about what it involved here.
We like to think of our partnerships as friendships and hope they’ll be long-lasting. Since we started we have formed friendships with a number of other like-minded travel companies and tourism bodies, acknowledged below, and we’re always open to new partnerships as long as they are relevant.
If you believe in slow and sustainable travel, experiential travel, local travel, and you think that giving something back to the places one visits is an important thing to do, and you would like to work together, do get in touch.
Below are some of the businesses with whom we’ve formed partnerships.
HomeAway.co.uk
Based in London and founded in 1996, HomeAway.co.uk connects travellers with home owners and managers, providing access to a huge variety of great value, unique accommodation worldwide. Their worldwide sites have the largest selection of homes available online, with over 450,000 properties travellers can browse for free and book with confidence. Finding and booking a holiday home rental is as easy, quick and secure as booking a hotel. In 2010, HomeAway.co.uk sent Lara and Terence around the world to stay in 36 of their holiday rental properties around the world, and use the homes as a base for a wide array of enriching experiences. Lara and Terence blogged about their experiences living in the properties and exploring the destinations on Grantourismo. To read about those experiences, take a look at our archives from January 2010 until March 2011.
Viator
Viator.com is the traveler’s one-stop-shop for researching, planning and booking destination activities in more than 450 destinations worldwide. They offer thousands (and that’s no exaggeration) of adventure activities, city tours, off-the-beaten-path experiences, educational tours, theater and show tickets, city passes, day trips… you name it, they probably offer it, all hand-selected by the Viator team, and all available at your fingertips on the award-winning Viator.com website. With a little help from Viator, travelers can easily wear the hat of a true local as they ride a bike through the streets of Amsterdam, shop the markets in Marrakech, or surf the big waves of Hawaii. Find out more by reading the Viator Travel Blog or follow Viator on Twitter.
Context
Context organizes stimulating scholar-led walking tours, gastronomic dinners with food experts, bar-hopping wine appreciation courses with qualified sommeliers, engaging site-visits, and other compelling travel experiences in the major cultural capitals of Europe and the USA. With group sizes limited to six people and docents drawn from local universities, research institutions, and museums, Context’s ‘seminar-style’ walks are designed to help the erudite traveller appreciate and defend a city without overrunning it.
Rail Europe
Rail Europe is the UK’s leading specialist in tickets and passes for rail travel around Europe. They’ve been helping travellers heading for the continent for around a hundred years as the UK arm of the French National Railways (SNCF). So whether you simply want to get from the UK to the continent by rail, or you’re planning a European-wide rail adventure, they will be able to provide the right ticket or pass option for you. The newly relaunched website – www.raileurope.co.uk – makes it easy to find information on what to expect on European trains, at the stations and once you reach your destination as well as top tips to make booking your tickets and the actual journey easier.
Trourist
Trourist is a social network for people seeking to live their travel destinations, not merely visit them, and a meeting point for people who travel to be connected with the world, not disconnected from it. At Trourist you’ll be able to seek travel experiences from friends or other travelers with similar yearnings and let them in on your secrets, the real experiences that make your city – or ones which you’ve been to – so special.
AFAR Media
AFAR is a multi-platform brand for experiential travelers who have the desire and the means to immerse themselves in other cultures, to engage with local people, and to enrich their own lives. AFAR Media will take its audience to the real experience of travel. Their mission is to inspire and guide those who travel the world seeking to connect with its people, experience their culture, and understand their perspectives. The company will pursue this mission by seeking to capture the true essence of experiential travel: connection between the traveler, a place, and its people.
