Romance tours are travel holidays on which the participants are introduced to foreign individuals with whom they may be able to form long lasting romantic attractions. Generally, these tours usually cater to single male travelers primarily from Western nations. Tours are often hosted in South America, Asia or Eastern Europe, though they're held throughout the world.
In the past, organizations helped bachelors to find romance by arranging romances with so-called mail order brides who usually lived in economically deprived areas. Men who worked with these organizations were often wealthy, while the women were eager to move abroad. Towards the end of the 20th century, many firms began to organize romance tours so that couples could meet in the woman's home nation. Rather than trying to blindly match couples, tour companies that operate romance tours usually arrange for males and females to meet in larger groups. These tours work on the premise that couples are more likely to develop a lasting attachment if they have the opportunity to meet and get to know one another as opposed to the traditional mail-order service in which case couples were often matched up based upon the decisions of a company representative.
Companies that arrange romance tours often use the Internet as a marketing tool. Images and biographical details about women are often uploaded onto the travel firm's website. Prospective travelers can learn about the women who are involved in the program and make a preliminary determination as to whether they are interested in meeting any of the women in person. Many of the women who participate in romance tours are well-educated individuals with foreign language skills who can easily communicate with men from English speaking nations such as the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia.
Some romance tour operators have the stated goal of introducing couples to individuals that they may end up marrying. Due to visa requirements in many nations, people from overseas are often unable to embark on long-term trips to nations such as the United States or Australia unless they marry a citizen or permanent resident of that nation. Therefore, romance tours are focused on creating long-term relationships and should not be confused with sex tours which are aimed at individuals who are seeking brief amorous interactions with foreign individuals.
In most instances, romance tours are arranged in major cities and regions that contain popular tourist attractions. Participants are usually taken on escorted tours around major landmarks and the travel firm also arranges social events such as visits to nightclubs or meals at restaurants that cater to couples. After the trip concludes, the participants can make arrangement to meet again with the assistance of the travel operator. Most firms can provide participants with specific information on arranging travel visas and marriages.