Sandemans New Europe
SANDEMANs NEW EUROPE GmbH is a city tour company in Europe, with daily tours in 11 cities across Europe and the Middle East, reaching over 2500 tourists a day in English, Spanish and German. The Company was founded in 2004 by Chris Sandeman. It’s the first tour company that successfully promoted the idea of free, “tips-only” walking tours.
History
Chris Sandeman, related to the Sandeman Sherry dynasty, was backpacking around the world when he came to Berlin and decided to stay. There, he worked as a tour guide for an English language walking tour company. In 2004 he founded his own company, SANDEMANs New Berlin, offering free magazines for backpacking tourists and starting a free tour across the city, on a tips only basis. In 2005 free tours started in Munich, 2006 in Amsterdam. As of April 2009 the company offers tours in 11 cities across Europe and the Middle East.
Concept
The company offers a mixture of tours in each city in which it operates. What distinguishes the company from other tour companies is the operation of a 'Free Tour'. The free tours work on a tips only basis; the freelance guides are not paid by the company, which ensures that they always give their best to get good tips in the end. The guides are obligated to pay the company an amount of money determined by the size of the group at the start of the tour. This means that the guides could potentially operate at a loss.
The company also offers other tours that are paid for. The concept has been launched by other companies in cities where Sandemans New Europe do not operate. Another tour the company offers in several cities is the so called Pub Crawl, where tourists are shown around the nightlife of a city and get free alcohol shots during the night and special offers in the bars and clubs visited. Other tours offered concentrate on the respective histories of the city in question for example a Montmartre Tour in Paris and a Red Light District Tour in Amsterdam.
Madrid Controversy
In 2008 the company moved into Spain, starting the free tour in Madrid. Guides in Madrid have to get a license before they are allowed to show tourists around. That however only applies within national heritage sites and no licence is required to run tours elsewhere. In early 2009 however a local group named the "Asociación Profesional de Informadores Turísticos" started to protest against the free tour, wanting to force the guides to also get a license and stop showing tourists around without passing an official test. With local television news reporting on the issue, the company suspended the free tour and started an online campaign to save it.
Tours offered
- Berlin (Free Tour, Red Berlin Tour, Third Reich Tour, Alternative City tour, Sachsenhausen, Potsdam, Pub Crawl)
- Munich (Free Tour, Third Reich Tour, Dachau, Beer Challenge)
- Hamburg (Free Tour)
- Amsterdam (Free Tour, Red Light District Tour, Alternative Tour)
- Paris (Free Tour, Montmartre Tour, Pub Crawl)
- London (Royal Free Tour, Old City Tour, Grim Reapers Tour, Pub Crawl)
- Edinburgh (Free Tour, Ghost Tour, Pub Crawl)
- Dublin (Free Tour)
- Madrid (Tapas Tour, Pub Crawl)
- Prague (Free Tour)
- Jerusalem (Free Tour, Holy City Tour, Mount Olives Tour, Outside the Walls Tour)