Northwest Travel Service, LLC. began operations in December of 1984, and has been providing travel services consistently and conscientiously under the same management and ownership since that time.
Change has been a key element to the travel industry. The advent of online reservation options doomed many agencies that were slow to keep up with the times. While commercial travel planning was a staple for the company in the 80s and 90s, the change from vendor paid commissions to a service fee structure precipitated a change to special interest tour planning.
Beginning with the University of Washington Husky away-game to Lincoln, Nebraska, the agency began to focus on the college football road game experience. While the main clients for these tours were Husky fans, road trips were also developed for Washington State, University of Oregon, and Nebraska Husker fans.
With the success of the Seattle Mariners in the 1995 season, baseball road trips were offered to local fans to over 22 Major League ballparks around the country. With the introduction of Safeco Field and the steady decline of the local nine, baseball tours came to an end.
In the late 90s I began to develop and promote garden tours with television and radio host Ciscoe Morris. Since the Spring of 1998, we’ve worked together on garden tours to Spain, Portugal, France, England, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Ireland, Italy, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Author and garden writer Marty Wingate and I have partnered on many garden tours as well to the United Kingdom and Western Europe.
Since 2014 the focus has been on wine tourism, specifically to Europe. Beginning in 2015 with a chartered vessel of 130 guests in the Bordeaux region, I’ve offered a river cruise through a wine region in each subsequent year. In 2021, I have plans to charter a mega-yacht for a week cruising the Adriatic along the coast of Croatia. In 2022, based on the success of a previous tour, a seven-night cruise of the Bordeaux region is planned and two weeks later, a wine and cuisine cruise through Burgundy and Provence with local winemakers. In May of 2023, we’re going back to Portugal’s Douro River and the island of Madeira.
Winter of 2022 will bring a tour of South Africa with a focus on wine and safari, as well as a tour to the wine regions of Chile and Argentina.
If you’re interested in receiving information on any tour program in development, please send an email to me at brad@nwtravel.com or reach the office by calling 425 375 2676.
Brad Cilley
Owner, Northwest Travel Service, LLC.