The advent of the internet has really speed up and made self-planned travel more pervasive and easier. These days, travelguidecompany destination, airlines, hotels, car-rental companies and others advertise their product more aggressively and allow the individual travellers to self-plan their own travels. It is an exciting new way to travel that appeals to more and more people.
The most obvious benefit here is the flexibility in the self-planned travel holidays. With this form of travel, you can customize the self-planned travel right down to the last minute details. Things and sights that travel agents avoid can now be included in the programme, allowing travellers to be more targeted in their travel objectives. Travellers can take up more unconventional destinations and activities and include these into their plans. The weirdest combinations are now possible. You can plan a wine tasting tour together with a skiing tour now. Many people interested in this form of self-planned travels, see this flexibility as a great asset.
Secondly, with the internet, choices become more varied for the self-planned traveller. Through the internet, travellers actually can have more options for flights, hotel, transport, activities and so forth. Very often, these companies are willing to offer personalize service to secure the business of these form of travellers.
The varied choices in travel products and services also mean that there is a high chance of getting the lowest price for the products or service. For example, airlines charge different rates to fly to the same destinations. For the budget conscious self-plan traveller, this lower price range is an important factor. And very often, the travel companies know this price competition is around and are willing to lower their prices or offer special discounts to travellers, resulting in travellers getting higher class products at lower cost.
Very often, self-planned travel involve a fair bit of self-drive vacationing. This offers the travellers a great way to alter or change their travel plans at will. If a town appears interesting and full of excitement, travellers might just extend their stay. If someone mention that just a couple of hundred miles down the road is an exciting place of interest, the travellers might just change their original plan and head for this new place of interest. This form of positive change makes the entire self-planned travel programme more meaningful.
Next,the group size of the self-planned travel can now be up to the travelling group. There is no more such thing as a minimum size group to travel. Small groups are also very possible for people to travel in.
Another key benefit is the improved cultural exchange between the self-planned travellers and the locals. In group tours, extended mingling with the locals are often difficult as time is limited. People are always rushing from destination to destination. But in a self-planned travel programme, travellers can afford to spend more time interacting with the local population, thus gaining more insight into the community. Self-planned travels are often repeated because strong ties are established in previous trips.
Travelling in this form of self-planned travel is indeed gaining popularity as the benefits are substantial, especially with the flexibility, ease of planning and also the cultural exchange. But before anyone head into any self-planned travel, it is important to consider some detail planning first.
