Guiding tours through Venice showed me the difficulties of the city, for visitors and for residents alike. I experienced the gap of authenticity between big group tours (more than30 persons) and tiny group tours (up to 14 persons), coming to the conclusion that only semi-private tours permit visitors to discover a city in a non invasive, authentic way that also respects its citizens.
During the mandatory “break” in tourism owing to the Covid-19 pandemic, I decided to benefit from my increased free time participating in a qualifying exam to open my own travel agency.
My vision is to offer more inclusive, diverse and tiny group activities, an idea that was born actually a few years ago:
It was a warm September day when I entered the port of Venice and headed to one of the terminals. It was the first time that I conducted an accessible barrier-free tour in Venice. In the hall I met an elderly lady from the United States, who was on vacation together with her daughter. Mother and daughter told me that they were so happy to finally visit Venice! Actually, it was not their first time in the city. The last time they had been to Venice, they had only seen the hotel and the area directly around the structure. This time, they wished to really discover the floating city.
The joy of mother and daughter to finally visit the city (Rialto, St. Mark's Square and a few hidden side streets) made me extremely happy. On the other hand side it also showed me that many people and their needs were still not completely considered by the international travel industry.
I asked myself "Why is that so?" and my answer is “Unfold Travel. Discover new.”
