This is how three leading tour operators from Chile worked together to create a collaborative and innovative multisport adventure.
Would you join forces with a competitor to create a collaborative sustainable travel tour in order to promote the destination where you work? It sounds tricky, but that is exactly what three leading tour operators from Chile have done.
Amity Tours, BirdsChile, and Chile Nativo – longtime ATTA members who strengthened their ties by taking part in the community events for more than ten years – have worked together to create a brand-new product called Patagonia Collection. This multisport adventure is a two-week journey connecting nature and local people in the scenic regions of Southern Chile where they operate: the Route of National Parks of Patagonia and The Lake and Volcano District.
“Patagonia Collection is an exclusive adventure carefully crafted for those who dream of exploring Patagonia deeply, from North to South, hiking, biking and paddling,” said Gonzalo Fuenzalida, the founder of Chile Nativo and an ATTA Ambassador. He was the one who invited me, an Adventure Media Member from ATTA, to take part in the first FAM trip to introduce the journey to travel agents and media. After accepting the invitation and loving the trip, I can tell that, more than an unreleased epic tour for active travelers that love nature, Patagonia Collection is an inspiring case of how the motto “stronger together” can be applied in an innovative way by players who share the same beliefs.
Designing accessible multisport trips
Are we ready? That was the question among our travel group as we disembarked in Temuco, in the Araucanía region. This is a typical concern for guests in multisport tours who have varying levels of experience, and that is why it is crucial to design accessible levels of challenging activities. In my case, as someone who is a stronger hiker than cyclist, thanks to the e-bikes my first days were adaptable and smooth. After two great hikes among the araucaria "monkey puzzle" trees in the Conguillío National Park, we easily rode our e-bikes a total of 140 km over two days in the Vicente Pérez Rosales National Park area. At some points, we could see four volcanoes on the horizon while cycling! On a scale of 1-5 (with 5 being most challenging), I would rate the difficulty for the whole trip as level 3; there were only a few times when someone from the group decided to opt out or skip part of an activity to rest.
They complement more than compete
During the e-bike rides, our small international group of seven travelers was joined by Gonzalo Fuenzalida and his project-partner Cristian Levy, the founder of Amity Tours, a Chilean leader in bicycle tours. Both CEOs didn’t look like competitors at all.
“We don’t usually compete for the same client,” Levy assured us. “We offer different products and we are experts in different areas of Chile, so we complement each other more than compete.” That is one of the secrets of this promising partnership, because, “our companies have similar core values, in which adventure, nature and sustainability are at the center,” he explained.
As our days crossing forests, lakes and volcanoes passed by, we could confirm that working in a sustainable way with local communities is a strong pillar for them, and the experiences were seamlessly intertwined. For example, it was wonderful to have a cooking class with a Mapuche Indigenous family during the cycling part of the journey, led by Amity Tours. Later, when we got close to Puerto Varas, in the Lake and Volcanoes area, BirdsChile provided rewilding experiences in which travelers give back to the local communities by clearing a green urban park of invasive plants in the beautiful Llanquihue Lake area. There was a cultural component as well; we met with native Kawéskar people to have a weaving class at the Chile Nativo headquarters in Puerto Natales. This base is where the company has operated tours in Torres del Paine area for the past 23 years.
“We understood we have many values in common since our first trips together to ATTA events,” said Raffaele Di Biase, founder of BirdsChile, the third partner in the Patagonia Collection. Also an ATTA Ambassador, Di Biase is an Italian entrepreneur based in Chile and the president of the Route of Parks of Patagonia. We met in the middle of the journey, right before joining a mid-level rafting trip on Petrohué River. Di Biase told me it was only in 2014, at the Adventure Travel World Summit (ATWS) in Ireland, that he, Fuenzalida, and Levy developed a closer relationship. “Creating something together became a natural next step, as we understood that our collective force could create a positive impact in Southern Chile,” he shared.
Hiking Alerces Trail with Kris Tompkins
Getting to know some of the 17 national parks that form an ecological corridor in the Route of Parks of Patagonia is one of the main goals of Patagonia Collection. This unique project was an initiative from two conservationists from the United States, Douglas and Kristine Tompkins, who as a couple made the largest donation of land from a private entity to a country worldwide. The area spreads along one-third of Chile and includes one of the highlights of our journey: Pumalín Douglas Tompkins National Park, where we had the chance to hike to the mouth of Chaitén volcano, which erupted in 2008. Pumalín is where we had the greatest surprise of the trip: meeting Kris Tompkins herself, while walking in the Alerces Trail. She was there for the inauguration of the museum at the new visitor center in Caleta Gonzalo, which I had the chance to visit firsthand.
Countless meetings with Chilean wine
The idea to create the Patagonia Collection was born in February 2020 when Fuenzalida, Levy, and Di Biase met in the countryside near Santiago for a brainstorming retreat. “With maps, paper and pen, we threw ideas and possibilities,” remembered Levy. But one month later, the COVID-19 pandemic hit, postponing everything. They used the free time to fine-tune the plan with their teams, and later presented the trip in a couple of virtual events with ATTA. “We lost the account of how many meetings we had among us, many of them accompanied by good Chilean wine,” said Fuenzalida. In March 2022, they finally tested the model by hosting their first B2B group. In November 2023, they had the first direct clients from the USA. And in March 2024, this FAM that I took part in.
The third and final part of our Patagonia Collection journey offered what is often considered the main attraction of southern Chile: the astonishing Torres del Paine National Park. There, we experienced beautiful nature, amazing adventures, great local food, and sustainable cultural encounters. Key experiences included glamping in the brand-new Riverside Camp Patagonia, recently opened by Chile Nativo, an opportunity to kayak in Grey Lake, and two astonishing hikes – one of which led to the base of the Paine Towers as our grand finale. After an epic 14-day journey, each one of us had a true collection of once-in-a-lifetime memories.
Six eyes see better than two
“We are so happy for making this dream-project come true,” said Fuenzalida, at our farewell dinner, alongside the teams from each company. “As always, we have things to improve, like creating a shorter and less strenuous version for certain groups, in addition to the possibility of the three sections being carried out on separate trips,” he added. “These are things that we learn when we work in a collaborative way. Six eyes see better than only two,” he joked.
And how did Amity tours, BirdsChile and Chile Nativo celebrate the Patagonia Collection journey closing event with us? With a party, of course – a typical local barbecue and some good Chilean wines. This is where the best ideas are born.
Key resources
Reservations B2B or B2C can be made directly to any of the three founding companies of the Patagonia Collection:
- Amity Tours / Email: [email protected]
- BirdsChile / Email: [email protected]
- Chile Nativo / Email: i[email protected]
About the Author
A travel storyteller passionate about nature and people's diversity.
Daniel Nunes is an experienced travel and adventure writer from Brazil, with stories published in National Geographic, Go Outside, Discovery, GQ and Forbes, among others. He is also a content curator for travel and outdoor brands, a travel journalism teacher, a book editor and a radio show host for program Conscious Travel (Viagem Consciente on Spotify) at Nova Brasil FM. His favorite outdoor activities are hiking, running, camping, yoga and scuba diving. Daniel loves to write human stories about sustainable tourism, community-based tourism and also luxury responsible tourism.
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