«The couple ask to live very significant experiences, which are a transformative learning»
Alessandra Girard | cloud
waning honey moons
ROCIO MENDOZA Madrid
Bárbara Cortés barely has two minutes a day free of calls and phone messages to answer. On the other side, she solves doubts, organizes schedules, confirms reservations and receives news from all of her 'her boyfriends'. She is a professional organizer of honeymoons and, as happens to many of her sector colleagues, she now celebrates the avalanche of work after the parenthesis imposed by the pandemic in her sector during 2020. «I am already noticing the 'boom'; We are not going to have to wait for 2022 as was said. The peak of requests is increasing for days. And the new situation forces us to work on the fly. What we used to plan in 9 months, we now do in 15 days”, explains this professional with some joy.
Right in these months, starting in June, wedding trips are expected to take off again and to do so with momentum. It could not be otherwise after the rosary of cancellations and postponements to which many Spanish couples have been forced. There are still limitations. Nothing will ever be quite the same again, they say. But if there is an opportunity to enjoy this special time as a couple, whatever it may be, few are willing to let it go.
The formula to get out of the trance is to equip yourself with a plus of flexibility to change your destination if health restrictions so impose, expert planning and not skimping on security measures. But above all, knowing how to adapt the expectations of the experience to the new and pandemic times. As long as there is desire, and all the experts in the sector confirm that there is no shortage, traveling is possible.
International destinations of now
«When the time came to stop, for our part we dedicated ourselves to listening to couples and we realized that we Spaniards are very keen on doing something, whatever. And with that premise we adapt”, says Sheila Quesada, delegate in the Valencian Community of the Spanish Association of Tourism Professionals (AEPT), specialized in the wedding and family travel sector. They then offered what they call 'non-honeymoons'.
To adapt to the perimeter closures, they did not hesitate to organize select experiences in nearby places in the hope of being able to make the big trip when the situation allowed it. «There were people who were lucky enough to enjoy the islands like the Canary Islands –recalls Quesada- and they told us that they felt like living in the time of their grandparents». And so much: there are those who have opted for luxury villas but in charming towns, such as Altea, when the perimeter closures imposed it and the limitations grew with each passing week. Of course, this alternative has meant that, as a novelty, many newlyweds have ended up enjoying two honeymoons.
From NUBA, a classic reference among agencies dedicated to organizing large exotic trips chosen by many boyfriends, confirm this fact. The 'honey nanomoons' – as they have also been called – at nearby sites have been the appetizer of subsequent more ambitious trips.
Alessandra Girardi, product director of the aforementioned brand, warns that although exoticism and great tours are a house brand, this does not necessarily have to be at odds with nearby trips to Spain or Europe. «We have also been offering experiences in Spain or in closer destinations such as Italy, Greece, Portugal or Croatia for many years. They are options that we offer with the same level of attention and exclusivity as others of a more exotic nature, and indeed, both last year and this year, we have noticed an increase in demand. In these countries we also offer experiences that are no less romantic or special, such as a picnic among the infinite vineyards of Tuscany, with the perfect toast of Chianti wine, crossing watercolor villages on a vintage scooter, a 'royal' dinner in a private room in the Palacio da Pena in Sintra, an exciting journey through time in the purest style of the 'Thousand and One Nights' or sleeping under the stars in a 'bubble house' in the middle of the French Alps, with the majestic Mont Blanc as a frame background”, he enumerates.
Ladies are y'all leaving y'all nigga after this or staying? https://t.co/8YkSt594Yn
— HEFF 🖤 Fri Jun 21 23:14:58 +0000 2019
This type of plan is in line with the preferences of new post-covid boyfriends. «Now they are looking for a more personalized, private trip, with high security and hygiene measures. But these months have also made us reflect and many have taken advantage of this moment to rethink the way of traveling; more respectful with the communities of the places we visit and with our ecosystem. Thus, we are meeting many couples who come to NUBA because they seek to live significant experiences. They are looking for trips capable of changing their way of seeing the world (outside and inside) and that generate transformative learning”, says Girardi.
«By allocating the same money as a grand tour but to a close experience, the focus has been on the luxury experience»
luis peace lopez | industry entrepreneur
Privacy and intimacy, as well as the need to feel that you are in something very special, are the characteristics that reign in today's honeymoons. As pointed out by Luis de Paz, founder of MundoExpedición and BespokeTravelSpain, during his participation in an event organized by Condenast Traveler to discuss the future of the tourism sector, there are couples who have decided to spend the same (4,500 euros on average, according to data from a study and bodas.net of 2019) than in a great tour through different countries in a close experience, with which luxury has entered the option of many people who did not consider it before.
His colleague, Alesandra Girardi, confirms this when it comes to choosing where to stay. "Regarding accommodation, we could also say that in the post-Covid era, couples are looking for something more and the luxury experience is evolving around three concepts: the remote, the sustainable and the exclusive," she points out.
“Immersive experiences such as visiting families or markets are now limited; couples also want more experiences in Nature and intimacy»
courteous barbara | professional organizer of honeymoons and family trips
Curiously, the fact that the honeymoon turns more inward, towards the intimate experience, to attend to the origin of this custom, which was nothing more than giving the couple some time to really get to know each other, does not mean that it is limited to Lanzarote. , where by the way "many newlyweds are seen these days", as confirmed by the owners of accommodations such as María Álava, from the Álava Suites complex.
Rather it has to do with being limited to a single country. “This is what has changed the most. Destinations are no longer mixed as before”, explains Bárbara Cortés. And, when it is done, “the immersive experience in the community is avoided: visits to markets, living with families in the community, etc. All that that used to make destinations special », she points out. Now what prevails is nature, outdoor exoticism and the absence of crowds that guarantee a minimum safety distance. With these wickers, Africa is becoming one of the most demanded international destinations. "The safaris, the accommodations... are destinations that are already very personalized," says Cortés.
«Before the closures, we offered close and exclusive nano honeymoons; now it's up to Africa and Costa Rica»
sheila quesada | tourism professional association
And there is no fear? It doesn't seem like there is as such; but a lot of respect and caution. Intermediaries, as Quesada points out from the AEPT, now have a very important role, especially with regard to security. “Our boyfriends travel with prior agreements with all the local hospitals in case it is necessary, with a code to do the PCR without it costing their lives, with insured return trips if necessary, etc,” explains Quesada, who also puts as An example of a trip that is now in demand for those that allow greater contact with Nature. "We're hosting a custom one in Iceland for September, with farmhouse accommodations that look like five-star hotels," she quotes.
She coincides with her colleague Bárbara Cortés in the list of most demanded destinations to which you can now travel. Among all, Costa Rica reigns, (they call it the open natural paradise), Egypt and a classic for couples that not even the pandemic has made decline; the Maldives Islands. «It is beginning to be possible to travel safely; people should know. And there is life beyond the Canary Islands and Tulum (Mexico)", defends Luis de Paz who, as an expert in the sector and with reservation data in hand, already predicts that 2022 will be the year of weddings and, of course, of what is already a part as important as the celebration itself: the honeymoon.
a victorian origin
The practice of honeymooning has British origins. At the beginning of the 19th century, upper-class couples began the so-called 'bridal tour', sometimes accompanied by friends or relatives, to visit those who had not been able to attend the wedding. The practice soon spread to mainland Europe, known as the voyage 'la façon anglaise' (English style) in France, from the 1920s onwards. The couple undertook these trips imbued with romantic ideals: adventures, wild landscapes... Some of these trips gave rise to great journeys and literary works as interesting as 'Passage to India', by EM Forster or 'History of an excursion of six weeks', which collects the travels of the Shelley couple.
