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About Us

We're all about doing travel properly

To us, that means genuinely getting under the skin of a country and its culture. It’s tasting the local food, meeting the local people, and simply experiencing a place like it should be – like a local.

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Our Vision

To become the world’s favourite platform providing the best collection of local sustainable experiences, whilst acting as a hub in which to share best practice supporting responsible travel for hosts, agents and consumers.

Authentic local experiences – Travel should broaden your horizons, it should open your mind to other ways of living, other ways of thinking, and it should, more than anything, bring people closer together.

It should support local communities and truly benefit the people who are proud enough to show you around their home.

So, we’ve scoured the earth looking for truly authentic, local experiences that will allow you to not just see a place, but actually experience it in a responsible manner that supports the local community. We have collated these experiences all over the globe so that you can pick and choose the things you do on holiday, providing you with freedom and that local, expert advice that creates amazing memories that last a lifetime.

Immersive – Instead of a huge group of tourists swarming attractions and overwhelming local infrastructure, we’ll only partner with local guides and small operatives who will get you off the beaten track and help you experience a place from the unique perspective of someone who knows it intimately.

They’ll show you how the locals live, how they eat, socialise, and they’ll show you the things that are special to them, helping you dodge the crowds and feel as if you’re seeing a side missed by many.

Sustainable and responsible – By choosing a Not In The Guidebooks experience, you can be certain that your money will be going to local communities, the people who deserve it most. Your money will be going towards preserving and supporting cultures and traditions, rather than diluting them, and to the warm, friendly guides you have who are so proud to show you where they live.

Essentially, forget touristy tours and being dragged around with large groups for two weeks. Not In The Guidebooks is the easy way to have an authentic, off the beaten track experience whilst supporting local communities, so that you don’t just see the world, you experience it.

Why we started – Carol Savage, our founder, worked for a large travel organization that specialized in small group travel with exciting itineraries. However, a lot of customers she spoke to wanted these immersive itineraries without having to go on a group tour.  Many of them had members of their family who had different interests and wanted to do different things on holiday – they didn’t want to stick to any fixed agenda. Others said they didn’t want to choose between an activity holiday or a beach holiday – they wanted to do a bit of both.

The concept was born! – Not In The Guidebooks puts you in the driving seat. You choose whether you want experiences to do together or different things for different members of your group. You choose whether you want to do an immersive tour in a few destinations before you chill on a beach.  Whatever you like to do on holiday – we can help you find the most interesting things to do in the area.  We have created a premium marketplace giving you direct access to off the beaten track, authentic immersive experiences.  Experiences that you will remember forever!

Where to begin? – We started this adventure in Cape Town, Sri Lanka and Edinburgh … and now we have partners from Spain to India, Italy to Vietnam, Costa Rica and Colombia to name but a few … and we are expanding to other exciting destinations all the time as we bring new like-minded operators on board … but only when we meet the right people who want to be a part of our journey.

Contact us here if you think that person could be you! (or email me directly at carol@nitgb.com)

Read some of our latest stories and articles that inspire us in Our Latest News

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