Group travel in Italy – Step by step towards a dynamic incoming travel agency

Today you’re getting in touch with Sarah Colombini, the young and enthusiastic entrepreneur of Blu Garda Tours, and you’re about to discover her experience behind the scenes.

Her incoming agency focuses on group travel in Italy: what are the new challenges she daily copes with?

The story of Blu Garda Tours, the incoming agency of group travel in Italy, has already been deepened with the help of the founder, Angelika and now let’s discover its future path.

The management of an incoming agency of group travel in Italy is not as easy as it seems: the young entrepreneur Sarah works with passion dealing with many new market demands, such as digitalization.

After embarking on this new adventure thereby joining the family-run company, Sarah had to take immediately an endurance test: treasuring her multi-year experience as group travel expert and at the same time looking confidently towards the future of her company that must go hand in hand with the new era.

When did your adventure at Blu Garda Tours begin?

I started working in the tourism industry way before my experience at Blu Garda Tours: I was born in this world. I have always supported my mum, Angelika in the guest reception and helped her with her job.

After the bachelor degree in Communication Science, I completed a specialization in Hospitality and Tourism Management in Milan and later I flew to Bangkok. There, I was in charge of representing the Italian market for one of the biggest Asian tour operators. When I got back to Italy I decided to convey the newly acquired enthusiasm to my family’s company.

I have been working for the family-run company for one year and a half now.

What do you like most about your job?

As an expert of group travel in Italy I have to take care of our product and new partnerships: we always offer our clients something new. We try to plan customized group trips aiming at fulfilling the holiday requirements of our customers.

I am also responsible for the online presence: in the past we were still working offline. I became the “driving force” behind the company’s innovation playing the part of the young resource and representing the generational change.

What about your product? How can the company reconcile the multi-year experience of the founder and your innovative ambitions in the group travel business?

In the future we will enhance our long tradition as group travel organisers and as a young entrepreneur I’d like to enrich our offer with new experiences, in particular in the wine and food industry. It is not only about conventional landmarks.

During this unconventional period we are focussing on outdoor holidays, active travel, e-bike tours and small group trips.

Can you give us a few examples?

For example the experience in an Italian Agriturismo, where tourists touch closely the craft and the rural traditions, so that they are able to enrich their cultural background with a real and an unforgettable Italian holiday.

We try to uncover niche realities. We cooperate with the smallest Italian pasta factory: we tell tourists the story of the traditional Tortelli of Mantua where travellers have the opportunity to knead the dough and then taste their own creations. We take part in the olive harvest in Tuscany and near Garda Lake as well. These are Italian gems that I have at heart.

How could you manage the difficult situation of the last months? Did the crisis give life to a new approach?

We approach the future confidently and we look forward to tackling it. We have been coping with difficult times since the crisis broke out in spring and autumn, our peak seasons. We didn’t sit on our hands, actually we have worked hard to update our travel offer for the future.

Crisis gave us a further opportunity: catching up with the times again and starting a new innovation process.

Golf holidays, team-building, active tourism: these are the new frontiers we intend to ride in the future. We want to preserve our historic value as group travel experts in Italy and positively exploit our in-depth expertise to introduce innovations.

Moreover we are extremely convinced that tourism goes hand in hand with a renewed environmental awareness. Our group trips promote sustainable tourism, support the local populations and create added value.

Relying on our vast prior experience we are ready to take a step forward towards the future.

Click here to get further information about the travel offer by Blu Garda Tours, group travel experts in Italy!