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When Tom Marchant talks about journey, he doesn’t discuss checklists or star scores. “I’ve always chased the edge of the map,” he says. “Not to collect countries, but to feel something real.”
That philosophy has deep roots. A Finnish mom, whose summers by no means actually ended and winters might chunk, a father with household scattered throughout continents, and a great-grandfather who was an artwork vendor in Paris—all formed his worldview. “Travel was part of life, not a once-a-year event,” Marchant remembers. “The best trips change how you feel, not just what you see.”
In the early 2000s, most journey manufacturers had been closely destination-focused, providing pre-packaged, cookie-cutter itineraries. Marchant and his co-founder James Merrett acknowledged a niche. “We didn’t always know exactly where we wanted to go,” he says. “But we could describe precisely how we wanted to feel. No one in travel was talking like that. So we built a company that would.” Black Tomato launched in 2005, and 20 years later, that emotional-first strategy stays on the coronary heart of each journey.
Travel Inspiration: The Story Behind the Black Tomato Name
The story of Black Tomato begins, fairly actually, with a black tomato. During travels in Russia, Marchant and Merrett got here throughout it on a menu. “We asked about it,” Marchant recounts. “The chef brought one out, inky skinned and beautifully unusual, and then sliced it for us at the table. It tasted familiar and surprising at the same time.”
“It became a metaphor for how we want people to travel. A black tomato looks simple until you pay closer attention. It is ripe when it is ready, not when you expect it. It rewards curiosity. That is how we try to travel. Seek the uncommon. Notice the nuance. Do not mistake noise for substance. The name keeps us honest and a little contrarian in the best way.”
Greenland
Courtesy of Nomad Greenland
Travel Values: Curiosity, Thoughtfulness, and Humility in Action
Twenty years on, Black Tomato stays guided by three rules: Be Curious, Be Thoughtful, Be Humble.
“Be Curious is how we begin,” Marchant says. “We keep asking what you are really seeking. We scout, we learn, we listen harder than we talk. Be Thoughtful is the craft. Pace, privacy, accessibility, impact. Every detail matters because people matter. Be Humble is the tone. We do not know everything, and that is the point. We learn from local partners, from clients, from getting things wrong and making them right.”
These values are usually not aspirational slogans—they’re operational rules. From crafting journeys for multi-generational households to navigating geopolitical shocks, the corporate has relied on them. “Financial crises, ash clouds, a pandemic—they remind us why we do this and how we want to behave,” Marchant displays. “Everything we have built sits on that foundation.”
Bespoke Blink arrange in Jura 2
Black Tomato
Travel Growth: Building a Luxury Brand Without Outside Funding
Black Tomato was constructed with out exterior capital. “Independence was not a constraint but an advantage,” Marchant says. “We weren’t working to someone else’s timeline or targets. We could focus on what mattered most: the craft, the client, the brand.”
Bootstrapping compelled self-discipline. “If something did not serve the client or strengthen the brand, we did not do it,” he explains. During instances when the trade leaned into quantity and commoditization, Black Tomato doubled down on creativity and storytelling. “We bet on experiences before experiential travel became a buzzword. Ideas like Get Lost, Blink, Bring It Back, and later the Feelings Engine—these were not stunts. They were proof that creativity could drive growth.”
Shocks such because the 2008 monetary disaster, volcanic ash clouds, and the pandemic turned proving grounds. “Luxury is a feeling,” Marchant says. “We hire people who understand that instinctively and give them room to create without bureaucracy. We grew on trust before scale. Every booking, every partnership is earned. That trust is a foundation money cannot buy.”
A glamping heli entrance
Courtesy of Alchemy Argentina
Travel Innovation: How Curiosity Drives Unique Experiences
Black Tomato’s creativity shouldn’t be unintentional; it’s intentionally cultivated. “We make it safe and exciting to share ideas and then give those ideas room to grow,” Marchant explains. An Innovation Council, a rotating group from throughout the corporate, meets month-to-month to champion new ideas. “Every voice is heard, every idea considered, and everyone has the authority to prototype.”
A junior colleague as soon as questioned aloud: what if youngsters’s literature may very well be delivered to life within the locations that impressed it? That thought turned Take Me on a Story, turning Treasure Island, Call of the Wild, and Studio Ghibli movies into immersive experiences (customized for purchasers, after all). Similarly, Field Trip, a program designed to spark curiosity and studying, arose from a teacher-turned-travel-expert on the staff.
Marchant emphasizes the steadiness between expertise and human instinct. “AI is everywhere in travel—predicting delays, rerouting trips, streamlining bookings. But it can’t take you behind the curtain of hidden gems in Kyoto’s backstreets or read a client’s mood. That’s human territory. We call it Humate™: combining human empathy with intelligent technology. AI handles the heavy lifting so our people can focus on the human bit that creates experiences no machine could ever forge.”
Travel That Inspires Family Wonder
Family journey accounts for over 55% of Black Tomato’s enterprise, and it shapes all experiences. “Designing for families makes you better at designing for people,” Marchant says. “You learn to run parallel storylines that meet in the middle. Hands-on for kids. Depth and ease for adults. Shared moments that become family lore.”
Take Me on a Story transforms books into journeys. “Stories kept families going when planes were grounded,” Marchant remembers. “We asked, what if families could step into those stories for real?” Adventures have taken youngsters and oldsters from the Caribbean to India to Japan, bringing native storytellers, craftsmen, and guides into the narrative. “The surprise has been how emotional parents become. They rediscover their own curiosity right alongside their kids.”
Field Trip enhances this strategy. “Parents asked if travel could keep the love of learning alive outside school. So we designed trips with geologists, marine biologists, astronomers—lessons are lived, not lectured. Children come home with new obsessions, and adults learn more in three days than they did at school.”
Upcoming experiences in Taiwan and Panama replicate the identical ethos. In Taiwan, youngsters interact with indigenous communities defending wildlife and cultural heritage. In Panama, households will take part in a brand new Blink glamping expertise on the San Blas Islands, working with the Guna group whereas exploring coral reefs, snorkeling with dolphins, and discovering the area’s distinctive ecosystems. “These trips create tangible benefits and authentic connection,” Marchant says.
A signature Blink customized setup glamping in Argentina
Courtesy of Alchemy Argentina
Travel That Blends Emotion and Experience
“Our secret sauce is emotion, not checklists,” Marchant explains. “We start with a conversation, not a list. What are you craving—to reset, to feel brave, to reconnect with someone you love? Often people cannot name it straight away. That’s fine. We listen for clues. The trip they cannot forget and why.”
From there, a story emerges: anticipation, reveal, stream, and afterglow. “If you want awe, we look for scale, silence, and guides who know when not to speak. If you want belonging, we design for shared tables and hosts who make you feel part of the story. The destination is the canvas. The feeling is the portrait.”
Unusual requests illustrate the strategy. A non-public “lost world” celebration was realized in a prehistoric valley with no hint left behind. A Studio Ghibli-inspired journey in Japan mixed filmmaker meet-ups with forest bathing on the islands that impressed Princess Mononoke.
Mongolia
Earth Soul Images
Travel That Builds Community and Sustainability
Scaling globally with out dropping authenticity is a continuing problem. “We scale trust, not templates,” Marchant says. “We invest in relationships with fixers, guides, artists, and conservationists. Our partners recognize us as a kindred curious spirit. That shared ethos opens doors inaccessible to most operators.”
Sustainability shouldn’t be a aspect observe—it’s foundational. Coral planting in Costa Rica, ladies’s empowerment tasks in Morocco, artisan preservation in Japan and Sweden, and elephant sanctuaries in Botswana are embedded into itineraries. “We want to travel to places and leave them better than we found them. We support partners and communities for the long term, not performatively,” Marchant says.
Nomad Greenland
OLLE NORDELL
Travel Through Crises: Creativity and Resilience
The pandemic was a proving floor for innovation. “Parents told us they were reading to their kids every night to keep them dreaming,” Marchant says. Take Me on a Story was born. Road journeys throughout the US had been reimagined with Auberge Resorts Collection, turning home journey right into a secure, magical expertise. Field Trip emerged as a response to a need for ongoing studying. “Constraints can spark great creativity. In hard times, hope is a service.”
Greece
Courtesy of Eclectic Travel
Travel Into the Future: What Comes Next for Black Tomato
The luxurious journey panorama has developed. “Luxury is personal. Time is the ultimate currency. People want something real,” Marchant observes. He predicts a future the place emotion-led design, group collaboration, and expertise behind the scenes outline excellence. Family journey and purpose-driven experiences will proceed to broaden, not as traits, however as core expectations.
For Black Tomato, the following 20 years contain deepening multi-chapter journeys mixing science, tradition, conservation, and play. “We will keep elevating family travel, purpose-led design, and community partnerships that make everyone proud to be part of the story. Technology will do the heavy lifting behind the scenes, and our team can focus on conversation, intuition, and care.”
The final dream? “A global relay built around awe and human connection. Swim through bioluminescent seas, sleep in deserts with poets, wake in rainforest dawns with conservationists, and travel north into polar silence. Share meals, music, work, and reflection. One story, many chapters. A celebration of human connection that stays with you long after you return home.”
Atacama Glamping
Courtesy of Black Tomato
Travel Lessons for Entrepreneurs
Marchant’s recommendation transcends journey: “Know your why and repeat it until you are bored of hearing it. Hire for curiosity and humility. Treat partners brilliantly. Watch your cash—it’s oxygen. Grow with intention, not ego. Say no often because every yes has a cost. When things get tough, innovate. Constraints can be gifts if you let them.”
For 20 years, Black Tomato has confirmed that luxurious journey shouldn’t be in regards to the locations or facilities, however about human connection, curiosity, and the uncommon and memorable experiences that linger lengthy after the journey ends.
This web page was created programmatically, to learn the article in its authentic location you possibly can go to the hyperlink bellow:
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielscheffler/2026/01/24/black-tomato-at-20-is-designing-travel-that-moves-hearts–minds/
and if you wish to take away this text from our web site please contact us
