Safety For Our Guests Is Number One
The world has been turned upside down in recent months because of Covid-19. Businesses are closed, sports are on hiatus and nobody is traveling leisurely. Anywhere.
Little did we know at the beginning of 2020 that we’d be changing our lives so drastically in such a short amount of time. Some of us have even been inside so long we’ve made a pact to venture outside more, to see what the world has to offer and to spend time with those closest to us.
Because of that, our phone has begun to ring again lately for private tours. The lockdown seems to be lifting slightly, and although several businesses are still closed, many travelers are on the jump to plan their Yosemite tours in nature, away from crowds. And when you Google “Private Yosemite Tour from San Francisco,” we are proud to be near the top of that list. (Soon we know our business model will be challenged by larger tour companies. This pandemic has turned private tours in nature into the next “big” thing.) For now, though, we are lucky to already fit that model.
At this time we could easily operate your Yosemite tour. In fact, our luxury vehicles and private guides are standing by to do so. Something in our gut, however, says not yet, even though the world is beginning to open and we could desperately use the cash flow to cover our fixed expenses. Not to mention we crave the private Yosemite backcountry hike to clear our minds.
The world seems too on edge, and as a tour company in San Francisco, guests trust us with their safety. As a responsible tour company, we need to make sure we can keep them safe no matter what. When we are hiking the Yosemite wilderness or cruising the backroads, we have no problems we can’t handle. You can twist an ankle or come across a bear, and we’ll make you safe. But a pandemic? This is new, and we need to adjust our playbook for it, especially since our guests sometimes travel long distances and from overseas for our private tours.
We know we could operate your tour tomorrow without a thought, but we have a moral code to keep our private guides and guests safe at all times, and with a virus nobody knows enough about, we just cannot guarantee that…yet. And neither can any of the other Yosemite tour companies. That is why the NBA, NHL and many other sports around the world are still closed.
So, with uncertainty in the air, we need to err on the side of caution. When we refuse your private Yosemite tour it’s not because we are closed or “going under.” It’s because our mission is to represent Yosemite the right way. Our guests and our small Yosemite community are what we care most about, and no amount of money can change that.
Rest assured we will return, but we will only do so when we can guarantee we can keep you and our local Yosemite community safe from anything life may throw our way, including pandemics.