Tauck

Tauck (/taʊk/[1]) is an operator of guided tours and cruises. The company is owned and operated by the Tauck family and is based in Wilton, Connecticut. Tauck offers more than 150 guided land journeys, small-ship ocean cruises, European river cruises, safaris and family travel experiences to more than 70 countries and all seven continents,[2][3] and it has received numerous accolades.[4][5]

Tauck
TypePrivate
IndustryTourism
Founded1925 (1925)
FounderArthur Tauck
Headquarters
Wilton, Connecticut
,
United States
Key people
Arthur Tauck, Jr. (Chairman)
Websitewww.tauck.com

History

Tauck was founded in 1925 by Arthur Tauck, Sr., a young traveling salesman, who brought six paying guests along on one of his sales trips through New England and southeastern Canada. The all-inclusive, six-day trip covered 1,100 miles and cost each guest $69. The group travelled in the mornings and guests relaxed in the afternoons while Tauck made sales calls to local clients.[6][7]

At first Tauck planned no additional tours, but when word-of-mouth recommendations from his six passengers resulted in numerous inquiries about additional trips, he reconsidered. Tauck soon launched Tauck Tours and began promoting his guided journeys in earnest.[4]

In 1935, it became the first tour operator to be awarded a federal Tour Broker's License by the U.S. government.[8]

In 1958, Arthur Tauck, Sr. was succeeded by his son, Arthur Tauck, Jr., who expanded the company by adding additional domestic and later international destinations to its portfolio. The younger Tauck is widely regarded as a travel industry innovator,[9][10][11] and he is credited with a number of “firsts” including combining motorcoach tours with air travel in the 1950s, offering the first international charter air tour packages in Nova Scotia, bringing many of the first East Coast travelers to the U.S. National Parks of the American West, and introducing “heli hiking” in the Canadian Rockies.[7]

Today
Tauck World Discovery in Barcelona, Spain

Today Tauck offers over 150 different all-inclusive, guided journeys to more than 70 countries and all seven continents. Travel categories offered by Tauck include land journeys, European river cruises, small ship ocean cruises, Tauck Bridges family travel adventures and special Tauck events.

The Tauck company is still a family-owned and -operated enterprise. Arthur Tauck, Jr. serves as chairman. Four of Arthur Tauck's five children have either worked for or are currently involved in the business, and his son-in-law Dan Mahar is Tauck's current CEO and a board director.[4][12]

Tauck is a member of the United States Tour Operators Association,[13] and the National Tour Association,[14] which was founded by Arthur Tauck, Jr. in 1954 as the United States Tour Brokers Association.[15][16]

European River Cruising

European river cruising has been an area of particular focus for Tauck in recent years, and the company operates a fleet of nine riverboats on the Danube, Rhine, Rhône, Seine, Moselle, Saône and Douro Rivers.[17] Tauck’s newest riverboat, the ms Andorinha, sails on the Douro River in Portugal and was launched there in August, 2021.[18][19]

Ken Burns Partnership

In September 2010, Tauck announced a partnership with the documentary filmmaker Ken Burns and his longtime collaborator Dayton Duncan to tailor land journeys and special events to topics covered in Burns’ films, including the Civil War, America's national parks, jazz and baseball.[20]

The partnership has three components:

Recent Awards
  • In 2021, the readers of Travel + Leisure named Tauck to the magazine’s lists of the World’s Best Tour Operators,[26] and the World’s Best River Cruise Lines.[27] It was the only company featured on both lists.
  • Also in 2021, Conde Nast Traveller magazine included Tauck on their Readers’ Choice Awards lists of the world’s best tour operators[28] and river cruise lines.[29] As with the Travel + Leisure awards, Tauck was the only company included on both lists.
  • In 2020, Tauck was named Best Tour Operator: Domestic Escorted and Best Tour Operator: International in Travel Weekly magazine’s annual Readers Choice Awards.[30] That same year, Travel Pulse honored Tauck with its silver-level award for its Tauck Bridges family trips in the Best Escorted Tour Operator, Family category.[31]
  • In 2019, Luxury Travel Advisor magazine named Tauck the Best Luxury Escorted Tour Operator,[32] while AFAR magazine’s Travelers’ Choice Awards[33] honored Tauck in its Cultural Trips category.

References
  1. "The Tauck Difference". Retrieved 29 April 2021.
  2. "Tauck Tours". americasvacationcenter.com.
  3. "Tauck, Inc". Dun & Bradstreet. Retrieved 11 January 2022.
  4. Pond, John (May 24, 2013). "The Tauck Story" (PDF). The Spectator. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 2, 2013.
  5. "A History of Tauck - River Cruise History - River Voyages". River Cruising Blog and News from RiverVoyages.com. October 2013.
  6. "Tauck Builds Bridges". travelagentcentral.com.
  7. "Around the world in 80 years". Lehigh University. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010.
  8. "EDITOR'S FORUM: Tauck Turns 80". Archived from the original on 2011-07-07. Retrieved 2009-12-11.
  9. "National Tour Association Honors Two Industry Icons". 5 February 2008.
  10. "The Roads Best Traveled". 27 October 2020.
  11. "A History of Tauck | River Cruise History | River Voyages". October 2013.
  12. "The Tauck Story". TAUCK.
  13. United States Tour Operators Association. "USTOA - Integrity in Tourism". ustoa.com.
  14. "National Travel Associates L.L.C." nta.travel. Archived from the original on 2006-04-02. Retrieved 2010-12-14.
  15. "National Tour Association". ntaonline.com.
  16. "Tauck redefines itself after 75 years". travelweekly.com.
  17. https://travel.usnews.com/features/top-river-cruise-lines
  18. "Tauck launches Andorinha, its first river cruise ship in Portugal: Travel Weekly".
  19. "Tauck Christens New Riverboat ms Andorinha in Portugal". 12 August 2021.
  20. "Filmmaker Ken Burns Partners With Tauck". travelagewest.com. 12 November 2010.
  21. "Ken Burns Journeys - Tauck Events". TAUCK.
  22. "Ken Burns Joins Tauck Travelers for Chicago Exploration". TravelPulse.
  23. "Ken Burns Brings Jazz Documentary to New Orleans". OffBeat Magazine. 26 February 2015.
  24. "The Tauck Baseball Hall of Fame Event Featuring Ken Burns and Phil Niekro". johnnyjet.com. 2014-08-06.
  25. "Tauck partners with documentary filmmaker Ken Burns". selecttraveler.com. 19 January 2011.
  26. "The Top 15 Tour Operators".
  27. "The Top 10 River Cruise Lines".
  28. "The best tour operators in the world 2021: The Readers' Choice Awards". 16 November 2020.
  29. "The best cruise lines in the world 2021". 15 October 2020.
  30. "The winners of the 2020 Readers Choice Awards: Travel Weekly".
  31. "Complete List of 2020 Travvy Awards Winners".
  32. "Luxury Travel Advisor Honors Awards of Excellence Winners at 2019 ULTRA Summit". Luxury Travel Advisor. 23 May 2019.
  33. "The World's Best Trips and Destinations: Travelers' Choice Awards 2019 | AFAR". 21 November 2019.
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