Authentic Experience
Sharing with you the hidden places not mentioned in guidebooks
Experience the local alleys and local life
Authentic Food & dinning experiences
Integrity and Honesty
Real value for money
Money back service guarantee
No hidden costs and tourist traps
Fairness and equity to customers, staff and suppliers
Committed to Quality
Quality people – highly trained professionals in all departments
Quality service – our future depends on past
Quality tours – we put ourselves in the shoes of our clients
Tailor-Made- Holiday
Customize any vacation package,taking into consideration your ideas and wishes
The enquiry and quotation procedure is completely free of charge
NO SHOPPING TOURS
Tourism in China is rooted strongly in the belief that travelers should be taken to tourist factory shops where they will drop lots of cash on overpriced goods.The “factory” is a small workshop showing how goods such as jade, silk or cloisonne are produced, followed by a warehouse-sized shop of expensive fixed price goods.The guide and tour company get a large commission on how much tourists spend. Travelers are looking for companies who will provide tours and transportation to China destinations without this hassle, and Discover Beijing Tours www.discoverbeijingtours.comis providing the right solution.
The Discover Beijing Tours has a strict No Shopping Policy as this practice compromises the traveler’s experience and the integrity of the relationship between guest and guide.Travelers can design and customize tours without having the shopping hassle to worry about.
The Tourist versus The Traveler
“The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see.”
– G. K. Chesterton
A “tourist” has a list of famous places they have seen in pictures and movies, or learned of over the years. They make lists of the things they want to see on their journey, and the goal is to see the sights. They visit, take a tour or two, and pose for photographs so that their friends and family back home will see that they were there.
A “traveler” knows something the tourist doesn’t. They will not cherish memories of the photo they took at a famous sight, and they will never have a sense of fulfillment for having seen popular monuments wih their own eyes. The traveler knows that those cherished memories will come from things they would never expect. It is the hospitality someone showed them, the people they meet, and all sorts of unexpected things that happen as they get outside of their comfort zone. The true memories come from unexpected moments during which the traveler is interacting with the culture they are visiting, not while they are taking pictures.
For the “tourist”, these moments are rare if they happen at all, because they are so busy getting from Point A to Point B, that they miss out on what is happening around them.
Our goal is to help people be travelers and have extremely rich, rewarding, and memorable experiences…
“Two roads diverged in a wood and I – I took the one less traveled by.”
– Robert Frost
We believe that most people would rather be travelers than tourists, but many simply don’t know how. Most travel agents only know about places that are marketed for tourists and large tour companies go where there is demand. Travel guides may write about a lesser known place, but the moment they do, it quickly becomes popular with tourists. Even suggestions from friends are most often based on their own experiences as a tourist, despite what they may think. Unless you actually know a local that will give you good advice, 99% of the time you will find yourself visiting places that have been shaped for tourism, and have lost their local charm.
That is where we come in. We are your locals. Our vacations are very different than what you are accustomed to. They are not “sightseeing tours”. They are quite literally a symphony of rich cultural experiences, local immersion, family, friendship, bonding, and a balance of new & largely uncharted destinations mixed in with a dose of popular sightseeing. Our goal with each vacation is to make you feel a part of the place you are visiting, such that during our time together, you feel a sense of belonging. You don’t feel like a tourist… you feel like an invited guest. When you leave, our goal is for you to feel like you are leaving a second home. It will completely change the way you travel forever.
Understanding the culture by embracing it
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness.”
– Mark Twain
The tourism business in general makes their own lives easier. In order to keep the masses happy, they adapt heavily to the cultures that visit them. In doing so, however, they are also taking away from the experience of learning about a new culture.
We not only fully expose you to the local culture, but also the local customs. And we will ask you to embrace them as much as possible. You will come to understand the culture you are visiting by being like them, and this never fails to give people an amazing insight into the place they are visiting. It connects them in a way that trying to bring your culture with you doesn’t.
