Collette’s small group Explorations line marks 15 years with expansion

Collette is marking the 15th anniversary of “Explorations,” its small group product line, with continued expansion.

The tour operator launched Explorations in 2008, introducing a “more personalized travel experience” with cultural connections and a maximum of 24 travellers per departure.

Designed specifically for smaller groups, the 10-tour pilot lineup spanned the globe with tours to Africa, Asia, the Galapagos Islands, and more. Many of the original 10 tours still operate today: with Italy’s Treasures and Plains of Africa among Collette’s top-performing tours in 2023.

“Nearly two decades ago, we saw the rising trend of small group tours. We were quick to innovate, especially to seize the opportunity to bring a small group product line to the travel advisor community,” said Jaclyn Leibl-Cote, Collette’s CEO, in a press release.  “I worked in Product at the time and was right in the middle of the development of these tours. We never wanted to go to market with small group departures on our Classic tours. From the onset, these tours had unique brand standards for accommodations, venues, and experiences that larger groups simply couldn’t access. And now, this is our fastest-growing travel style with the travel advisors.”

Pre-pandemic, Collette had built a four-year strategy to grow this product line even more, with 2020 on pace for record growth. During the pandemic, they kept their focus on this strategy and were well-positioned to meet the demand of modern travellers and drive a new source of business growth for travel advisors.

Today, the product line has grown five-fold in its 15-year span, with more than 50 small group journeys available. Collette says its Explorations portfolio in Europe has grown by 200 per cent, with new destinations like Albania joining the lineup in 2024. Nearly 40 per cent of all new tours this year are from the Explorations product line.

The tours are designed to engage curious travellers who want to dig deep into a destination.

“We are not surprised at the takeoff of this product line in the past six years” Leibl-Cote said. “Travellers revel in the camaraderie of these tours, in the exclusive access, and mostly in the uniqueness of the product. These tours are filled, every single day, with experiences they could not find on their own, experiences that are not in any guidebook. Everything we do at Collette is informed by traveller and travel advisor feedback, and the evolution of Explorations truly embodies that. I’m ringing in 2025 on an Explorations tour with my family in Africa. Because we are curious about culture, and we’ll get the full story with Explorations. We’ve been at it since 2008 and it’s better than ever.”

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