In 1998 I received a magazine from a tourism promotion company that was helping Embratur to promote Brazil. Unlike promotional material I'd received from other countries, it didn't tout the cities or the hotels. Instead, it was promoting the natural wonders of each state and their efforts to promote ecotourism. Many of these places I'd never heard of, since most brochures in travel agencies only featured Rio, Manaus and Iguassu Falls, even though Brazil is roughly the size of the lower 48 states in the U.S.

You may be pondering where to go on your next vacation, since it's getting close to summertime in the northern hemisphere. Let's take a look at what your interests are and see what places you might consider.

Over the years, I've been asked many times if it is safe to travel to South America. I had one American guy who was planning a family multisport trip, but he had read that somebody was killed in Peru, so he decided that he didn't want to travel there or to Ecuador, Chile, Argentina or Brazil because they were too close to Peru and it wasn't safe.

I recently read an article in "Travel Weekly" where a travel consultant said:

Many people are eager to travel to South America again and are looking for information about when that will be possible. We will try to keep this post updated with the latest information we get from our local operators in each country.

When the worst of this pandemic is over and people start traveling internationally again, they will want to make sure that they can do it safely. Besides thinking about airports and airplanes, they should probably also consider some things about the destinations that they are traveling to. So here are some things that they might consider:

Galapagos cruises on catamarans were introduced a number of years ago as a way to offer a more stable ride on the small yachts that average about 16 passengers, since one of the common fears was that some people would get seasick otherwise.

Recently, some new catamarans were introduced with next generation technology to make sailings even smoother and they also offer some other enhanced amenities to improve the visitor experience.

Many people never consider buying any form of travel insurance and many just figure it is an unjustified expense. Young people subconsciously feel they are invulnerable, but a lot of older people realize that they or their close relatives are living a more fragile existence and that the chances of some health crisis popping up are greatly increased, so they do consider getting insurance, in case they need to cancel their trip.

But there is one type of travel insurance that is increasingly becoming more important in this day and age....

Are you planning to travel to South America and are looking for an agent to help you with your plans? If so, you might consider some things that were revealed in a recent survey of travel agents:

• almost 66% of agents said that they sell mostly cruises and all-inclusive resorts
• almost 79% said that the Caribbean and Europe were their best selling destinations
• only 1.54% said that South America was their best selling destination
• only 5.14% said they belong to the Adventure Travel Trade Association and only 18.51% said they specialize in adventure travel

Have you or are you considering doing a tour or cruise to the Galapagos Islands? Have you already started looking at all of the options? There's a lot of them, aren't there? I just looked at the number of companies that exhibit at the South American trade show that I attend every year and I counted 28 that offer options to the Galapagos Islands. And that is just the number of companies who are willing to pay to meet with travel agents from all over the world! There are many other small companies that offer tours and cruises that other companies operate or they just have 1 small boat or hotel, so it is not worth it for them to pay to try to appeal to a worldwide audience.

One of our operators in Ecuador has just opened up a new facility called Magic Galapagos. Located in the quiet and cool highlands of Santa Cruz Island, this very special safari-style camp is available exclusively to their clients. With just six raised, walk-in, en-suite safari tents and four tree houses, guests feel that they have their own private hideaway. The only crowds they will see are the millions of stars in the night sky, the only noises they hear will be the gentle breezes and the measured passage of giant tortoises.