Luxury tour operator offering bespoke journeys through Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan
ANN RUPPENSTEIN
For travellers looking to explore somewhere beyond the mass markets, luxury tour operator Remote Lands recently announced the launch of bespoke journeys through Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan.
“With the pent-up demand for travel coupled with clients looking for wide-open spaces and naturally beautiful destinations that were a little less travelled, this region made sense to explore with the appeal to the adventure seekers,” Catherine Heald, co-founder and CEO of Remote Lands tells Travel Courier. “It was also important that any new destination we added to our collection were open without COVID quarantine requirements upon arrival — we wanted to offer clients places to travel without deviating from our core values of Asia travel.”
Located between the Black and Caspian Seas near the Caucasus Mountains, the region is known for offering a diverse mixture of stunning scenery along with culturally diverse city experiences.
“The Caucasus region is rich in history as well as beautiful scenery,” adds Heald. “The three countries are quite diverse but share a common history of frequent conquest by foreign powers and shifting borders, as well as some cultural traditions such as treating guests with the utmost generosity. Individually, these three neighbouring countries have distinct identities: Armenia is the world’s first Christian country and home to a wealth of churches, boasts a laid-back culture, and cosmopolitan capital; Georgia is the birthplace of wine, featuring a diverse landscape and has a strong food and drink culture; Azerbaijan is known for its oil-rich reserves, Zoroastrian fire temples, historical palaces, and an intriguing Turkic-Iranian-Russian cultural legacy. Baku can be compared to Dubai many years ago with the rich oil money and desert location on the Caspian Sea.”
Beyond these new journeys, Remote Lands saw tremendous demand for Sri Lanka, Nepal, Dubai, and the Maldives throughout the pandemic.
“Our inquiries for the ‘Stans’ have increased exponentially, and now that Thailand has reduced its testing requirements, we have seen an increase in interest and have clients travelling now,” she says. “As many countries in Asia start to reduce and eliminate COVID restrictions, we anticipate that destinations in Southeast Asia such as Cambodia, Indonesia, and Vietnam will follow suit.”
