Booking A Day Tour: Pro’s & Con’s
What is a day trip? For me, its when I make plans to go out during the day, while making my home base the hostel I am staying out. Depending on the city your are visiting, a day trip can be taking a walking tour, visiting some museums, or even traveling outside of the city to see the historical sights. All of this can be arranged for you through tour agencies, or if you feel up to the challenge you can go at it alone.
In one of my previous blog post about booking a hostel, I mention you should look for hostels that have a travel desk. Not only are these travel desks great for getting information from, they often also organize group tours to popular locations.
Travel styles are different from everyone, so booking day tours through a travel agency can take a lot of the unknown out of making day trip plans. When you book group tours you may be paying a whole lot more money to see the sights, and often you are no longer in charge of your time while on tour. I have been on tours that took over eight hours to finish, mostly because of the long stops me made at commision based gift shops.
I discussed this topic with other backpackers at the hostels I have stayed at, and It truly depends on your style, your budget, and your experience in traveling. This post will look at the pros and cons of booking an organized day tour, so that you can make an informed decision on what will be the best fit for you.
Transportation
It most cases transportation is the main reason to book an organized tour. One less thing to worry about. Here are some Pro’s and Con’s
Pro’s: Do not have to worry about negotiation a rate with a driver, don’t have to figure out public transportation, put your mind at ease about safety concerns, being able to leave belongings on bus safely.
Con’s: Limited time allowed in most places, have to go really early in the morning, can be a full bus or shuttle and uncomfortable, often times the bus is late, no control on making stops or where the bus will make stops.
Conclusion: If you do your research and figure out the public transportation in addition to other forms of transport like Uber and Taxi, you get a better understanding of everyday life in the city/country you are in. I love going out and learning about all the tricks the locals use to get around. The only thing to watch out for here is keeping your belongings secure and give yourself some extra time to get to locations, public transportation can be a slow process sometime.
Costs
Depending on the country you are in, prices for tours can be very reasonable based on the currency exchange rate from your home country. However, if you do your research in advance you will the large difference in costs compared to what locals pay, in otherwords expect to pay tourist prices. Tour companies also make money off commission, so they factor that into the cost per person.
Pro’s: Included are things like a tour guide who often speaks multiple languages, they pick you up and drop you off at your hostel, you don’t have to worry about speaking the native language to figure out entrance fees and other fees involved in the destination of choice.
Con’s: Commission Fees, overpriced inclusive packages (marketed at a free beer or shot, or food item).
Conclusion: Cleary based on my list there Is more Pro’s than Cons to paying more for a tour then going it alone. However, in this case the type of con outweighs the pro. Sometimes the tour agency will charge you a huge commission fee on top of the price of admission, like 100% of what it really costs. Also watch out for marketing tactics like ones that say you will get a free beer, or food item. Often times these items are not what you expect, or are just the excuse to take you to a commission-based food stop that has overpriced items for tourists.
Time
Tours can take a lot of time to finish, you can also be on a tour that seems rushed. I have never experienced the sweet spot of time at a place when on a tour. Depending on how much you want to see and how long you are in this area, should be considered before booking a tour.
Pro’s: You know when your tour will begin, and you will roughly when you will be headed back to your hostel
Con’s: You have no flexibility to do other things, in some cases you will be gone all day on the tour.
Conclusion: This really depends on the type of travel style you have. If you have a lot of time in one city, they go for the tour and let them do the planning. If you want to see a lot of things in a short amount of time, then go at it alone and be in charge of your schedule.
Commission and Overpriced Souvenir Scams Explained:
I wanted to quickly again address the biggest problem with going on organized tours. That is getting scammed on overpriced gift items and food, as well as spending a lot of wasted time at these stops. It is normal for tour agencies to receive payments from these stores in exchange for bringing toursit there.
If your tour makes a stop at a gift shop, be aware that the prices here are inflated for tourist. It’s my opinion that you avoid purchasing anything at these shops, unless you are able to negotiate them down to a reasonable price.
According to am 2019 article by Trip Savy, they have seen these types of scams continue to grow around Asia, and in new iterations of the scam being found in Thailand.
Also, as mentioned before watch out for overpriced lunch stops. This is rarer than the commission-based gift shops, but often times the tour will include a lunch stop. They will purposely take you to a place that have tourist prices, so be prepared to wait to eat later or just pay a bit more for lunch then normal.
This may seem like such a small thing, but to me it’s really the main reason I avoid tours in general
Here is my advice, just ask the tour agency for the complete itinerary. Ask them questions about how long you are gone for, where are you making stops. Get all the info you can so that your can make the right decision for your budget and your travel style.
Some additional information to help you decide you travel styel from Trip Asuste