Black Tomato

Here’s Tom Marchant with a short wrap up of 2024.   Twelve months, 365 days, and thousands of passport stamps. It’s been a year of remarkable journeys, and we’re so thankful to our travelers, partners, peers, and the communities we work with across the globe for coming along for the ride. Our world spins because of them. And we're already hatching big plans for 2025.

What writer Stanley Stewart found in Mongolia earlier this year – along with a shaman, eagle hunters, nomads and horse-breeders – was a sense of profound and life-changing clarity, where “life was reduced to that rare feeling: that this was enough, that I didn’t need anything else”.    The story of his journey with us for the May-June issue of Condé Nast Traveler is one of our favorites from this year. And it captures everything that draws us to the steppes of Mongolia, one of our Future Fuel destinations for 2025.    You can read the full article below. 

We’re excited to share the thought-provoking Future of Luxury report from the talented team at Backslash. Our co-founder, Tom Marchant, had the privilege of contributing to this deep dive into the ever-changing world of luxury travel. In the report and the short film here, Tom explores how the meaning of luxury is evolving within the experience economy—how it’s shifting, where it’s headed, and why it matters. Most importantly, it highlights how we see travel as a force for good and what extraordinary travel truly means to us and our clients. Dive into the full report below: https://lnkd.in/gFHhc9f9 https://lnkd.in/gcraaiuu #travel #blacktomato #instatravel #luxury #transformation #future #experience

ILTM Cannes 2024 complete 🥂✨ I’ve returned to London another level exhausted but filled with inspiration after spending a week surrounded by people who share my passion for this fantastic industry. From back-to-back meetings showcasing upcoming destinations and exciting new products (Zephalto and Orient Express Silenseas just WOW!) to sun soaked lunches with some of our favorite Perowne International hoteliers, and unforgettable evenings hopping from one mega event to the next. Special shoutouts to the Bvlgari yacht, Matthew Upchurch’s Carlton Suite soirée, and the epic Queen of Clubs Lifestyle Luxury Services after party! The absolute highlight, though? Meeting so many of our incredible DMC partners - some for the first time in person since I joined BT! It was so great to meet and spend time together, and personally thank them for the amazing work they do for us and our clients worldwide. Feeling immensely grateful for every opportunity brought my way. Merci beaucoup to everyone who made it so special – until next time! Xx Eva Christopher Ema Barry Mark Yohann Hunter Jean-Didier Matej Mattej Paula Drago Zeljka Henry Billur Sule Virginia

We’re incredibly proud to announce that Black Tomato has been named in the Inc. Magazine 2024 Best in Business list — a prestigious honor that recognizes organizations leading the way in innovation, culture, and positive impact. In the words of Inc. Magazine, “the 2024 Best in Business list celebrates organizations for superior execution across all facets of entrepreneurial business. These companies are being recognized for achievement across various disciplines from launching new products, to achieving positive client outcomes, community engagement, and fostering a strong culture of innovation. It highlights companies that have demonstrated excellence in unique ways. Whether a rapidly growing startup or a long-established company, this year’s organizational honorees have proven their ability to harness their unique strengths to achieve best-in-class results.” We’re absolutely blown away to have received this accolade, and would like to say a big thank you to the many partners, communities, and (most importantly) clients who we get to work with to create remarkable experiences day in, day out. Here's a quick message from our co-founder Tom Marchant on what this truly humbling moment means to us. #BestInBusiness #innovation #awards #TravelandHospitality https://lnkd.in/gMbdVY-T

Just back from the Luxury Communication Council’s Annual Leaders Forum and feeling so inspired. It was an absolute pleasure to represent Black Tomato among such incredible company—Chanel, Gucci, Moet Hennessy, VistaJet, Rosewood, and so many more. It’s always a joy to reconnect with this group, even if it’s only once a year (far too infrequently, in my opinion) A huge thank you to Rosie Shephard and the LCC team for organising such a fantastic event, and to the fascinating speakers who gave us so much to reflect on. Chioma Nnadi Head of Editorial Content Vogue who reminded us all about the importance of understanding and listening to your audience, Carla Buzasi from WGSN who introduced me to the growing trend of celebrating minorstones - something I think we should all do to appreciate the smaller moments and Anant Sharma who is always a pleasure to listen to, and shared why a 35p banana can offer the luxury market some lessons. And last but not least the brilliant Ben Goldsmith from Climate Collective (encourage you to subscribe to their fascinating newsletters) about so many brilliant projects we should all be supporting. Lots to think about as we head into the new year. Grateful for the energy, ideas, and connections. Until next year.

The past two months at Black Tomato have flown by, packed with unforgettable experiences… 🌟 A whirlwind trip to Morocco to celebrate the stunning reopening of Kasbah Tamadot with Virgin Limited Edition 🌟 A magical evening cruise on the Thames with FBR Consulting and an inspiring group of hoteliers 🌟 A fun day out the office to Four Seasons Hotel Hampshire with my lovely colleagues Natalia and Hannah 🌟 A wonderful evening with The Red Carnation Hotel Collection (Red Carnation Hotels), toasting our fantastic partnership Special thanks to Isabella, Flavia, Marco and Nicole. Now, it’s time for ILTM Cannes, and I couldn’t be more excited! Hope to see you there x

Regenerative Safaris: Shaping the Future of Travel We’re honored to see Black Tomato featured in this thoughtful Vogue story on the transformative rise of regenerative safaris. This special piece shines a spotlight on something really important to us - the evolution of luxury travel into something truly meaningful- where the journey leaves a positive impact on both the traveler, the planet and its people. As Vogue highlights, we are proud to craft journeys that go beyond obvious luxuries, creating opportunities for our clients to connect deeply with the destinations they visit. From supporting conservation efforts like the Borana Conservancy to fostering meaningful exchanges with local communities like the Sambura people, we strive to ensure our safaris are as purposeful as they are remarkable. And we pride ourselves on access and deep knowledge of how to weave very special properties and experiences together. Collaborating with world-class writers like Nicole Kliest is always a joy. Their ability to capture the essence of our mission and bring it to life through storytelling is nothing short of inspiring. Working with such talented partners at The Safari Collection, Lengishu, Sasaab and Giraffe Manor - and in tandem with brilliant guides like Rianto, Daudi, William, Mikey and many more - allows us to continue raising the bar for what’s possible in travel. Thank you again to Vogue and Nicole for taking this trip with us and seeing first-hand our vision for a regenerative, responsible future. Together, we’re proving that travel can be a force for good. "Black Tomato, a team with a track record of crafting life-altering experiences." Discover the full article and explore how safaris are leading the way in meaningful luxury travel: https://lnkd.in/ektYBc7P #RegenerativeTravel #LuxuryTravel #SustainableTourism #Vogue

Each year, we curate a list of the destinations we’re most excited about for the year ahead. Next year’s list, as ever, came about after “a passionate debate, followed by extensive field research in the destinations we’ve chosen”, as Carolyn Addison – our Head of Product – explains. A lot of thinking, and a lot of curiosity, went into deciding our selections for 2025. Together, these six destinations are our Future Fuel for 2025; all of which were selected for their emphasis on culture, community, and indisputable natural beauty. As a whole, they represent the variety of less-visited destinations that our clients so often seek out – offering our travelers the chance to forge meaningful connections with the places and people around them, and explore the best of a country in a way that feels uniquely their own.   Head below to read our selections for where to travel next year. Where's on your list for 2025? https://lnkd.in/dmkk3fD5 #wheretogoin2025 #futurefuel #travel #luxurytravel #travelguide #trendingtravel

We don’t normally do this but, given the amount of humbling and positive feedback we’ve received about the launch of our new brand film ‘Feeling Is Believing’, we thought we’d share a little insight and take a closer look behind the scenes of how we made it. We’ve had many questions about the film, with many being around where the idea come from – and how we turned it into our final campaign. When we first sat down with Tom Marchant last year, we had one (admittedly major) goal in mind. To create a new brand film for Black Tomato. Off the bat, we knew that we didn’t want our film to look like a “traditional” travel film. It meant we wouldn’t be shipping out to some distant wilderness with all our gear in tow, or searching stock film libraries to look for landscapes, as can often be the case. Instead, we decided to flip the camera around; focusing on the emotions we feel when we travel. In other words, to capture feeling itself. But how would we actually do this? That’s when the marker pens came out. It started as a list. There’s a photo, somewhere, of the whiteboard we were working on; it was filled with just about everything you might feel when you travel, and it listed all the ways that feelings are expressed in our bodies and our faces. Like surprise (a widening eye) – or anticipation (a tightening fist). From there, it was about finding the right stylistic approach for the brief; settling on a stripped back studio where we could bring light, and shadow, and the human body to the fore. We made use of multiple lenses and reflectors, finding creative ways to introduce a lot of ambience into the room; to keep the face, and the body, squarely in frame. So, what remains is a film – it’s called Feeling is Believing – that tackled the question we'd first posed all those months ago, sitting around our scribbled-on whiteboard: “How can you capture a feeling?” We like to think we found out. Thanks again for all the wonderful feedback. It means the world to all of us at Black Tomato to read it. And you can view Feeling is Believing here: https://lnkd.in/eNNcNymv #creativity #film #luxurytravel #branding #marketing #travel #advertising