Leatherback Travel · destination management · the Balkans & Central Asia
turn over ↻
turn over ↻
TO:
tour operators
&
travel brands
turn over ↻A DMC either makes your product better or adds a layer between you and it. These are the three you'll measure us on — and the three we measure ourselves on when it's our own brand out there.
Your itinerary, your pace, your guest profile. We brief guides on your brand, not just the route — walking groups, rail groups, makers and food travellers all need different ground handling, and get it.
Local offices in both regions, our own guides, permits handled by people who live in the country. When something moves — weather, roads, a border — you hear it from us before a guest tells you.
The bit that isn't logistics. The grandmother's kitchen instead of the set-menu lunch. The reason a guest books with you again next year instead of shopping around.
we get you, because we have brands just like yours
Every format below has already run under one of our names, at our own risk, with our own guests. Hover for what that looked like.
01Own room, always, and a group that expects solo guests — most of our own departures carry them.
02Camino Women and Harriet Adventures run women-only departures in both regions; guides and hosts are briefed for it.
03Graded 2 to 5 — the Peaks of the Balkans, the Fann Mountains, Ala Kul at 3,800 m.
04Family houses, craft workshops, dinner in the courtyard — set up with the people who live there.
05Strudel in Bohinj, plov in a Tashkent kitchen, a Macedonian table. Long tables, big pans.
06No birding itinerary runs yet; one is in design. Tell us if your guests bird and we build the day notes with you.
07Balkans Rail Explorer, Budapest to Istanbul, Silk Road by Train — whole regions without a flight.
08Wayward Paper, our sketching brand: The Salt Coast through Croatia, Montenegro and Bosnia, and The Slow Line across Uzbekistan — sketchbooks in hand, from 2027.
Already on the books.
Your guests should never notice where you end and we begin.
Boring on purpose. The drama stays on our side of the line.
The part nobody can put in a contract, and the part they talk about.
Our job is to make you look exactly as good as you are.
Because we operate travel brands ourselves, we know what it costs when a DMC doesn't feel aligned with the brand it's serving. So we don't let that happen.
lunch, being made properlyEach region has its own office, its own guides and its own page with the countries, the team and real examples. Pick one — or tell us about more than one.
the Balkans team, KalemegdanTwelve countries, Budapest to Istanbul without a flight. The full country list, real examples and the team are on the regional page.
the Kyrgyzstan & Kazakhstan teamFive countries and the original home of our DMC model — complex terrain, long distances, and the permits that come with both. Silk Road cities, mountain crossings, family houses.
The next region, same standard, same people behind it. If India is on your calendar, tell us now and we'll tell you honestly when we're ready to run it.
our offsite, Belgrade · ops, marketing & trip designSend the rough shape — region, dates, group size — and we'll come back with a costed plan rather than a brochure. Two working days, usually one.
no hard sell, we promise
the Balkans team, KalemegdanSofia & Belgrade · Balkan DMC
the Kyrgyzstan & Kazakhstan teamAlmaty · Central Asia DMC