“The trend is outdoor adventures, big wide open spaces and lots of fresh air,” Sagiroglu says.
That’s coupled with the fact that people who would normally travel out of the country are looking for domestic vacations instead.
“I’m getting a lot of calls from people who would normally go to Cairo or Italy and they’re not doing that this year,” Sagiroglu says.
She’s not only getting calls from traditional visitor areas like Massachusetts and the rest of the Northeast, but places like Texas, Michigan and Wisconsin.
Sagiroglu says Maine’s wide-open spaces and outdoors options are at the forefront of many of her customers’ minds.
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In Maine, they call them “Boomerangs”—people who move away, miss Maine’s beauty and lifestyle, and then move back again. Rachel Sagiroglu, an experienced event planner, was a Boomerang who wanted to bring the world with her when she returned. In the summer of 2019, she launched Experience Maine, a travel concierge and events company offering customized itineraries and meeting planning. From the start, Rachel employed digital tools like Google Analytics and Google Ads—which became the top source for revenue and new customers for the travel side of the company—to grow and build partnerships within the Maine tourism industry. Within six months of founding her business, she had trips and events booked for the upcoming season. And then COVID-19 hit, upending the travel industry and creating enormous challenges for the new company. Rachel knew adjusting her business model would be critical to staying afloat…
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Professional travel advisors, Rachel Sagiroglu, CEO of Experience Maine, and Armanda Davis of Mainely Armanda, are proud to announce a new partnership to offer an expanded range of travel planning and vacation services to outdoor enthusiasts and adventure travelers in Maine.
“This partnership will allow us to enhance our focus on outdoor recreation seekers looking to experience Maine’s natural beauty and bold landscape. Since the start of the pandemic, Maine has seen a surge in vacationers and staycationers looking for unique and memorable outdoor adventures,” says Rachel Sagiroglu. “By uniting our two brands, we will continue to grow and meet the needs of travelers looking for tailor-made itineraries and personalized service.”
“I am looking forward to this next chapter of creating custom Maine experiences for clients while highlighting the best that Maine has to offer,” says Armanda Davis. “Promoting and planning adventure and sustainable travel across Maine is my passion, and I am excited for the opportunity to provide these services within the Experience Maine brand.”
Together, Rachel and Armanda have more than 40 years of experience in the hospitality and tourism industry and have a shared love for Maine, its culture and its natural beauty. Under the Experience Maine brand, Rachel and Armanda will continue to curate, design, and plan unique travel experiences for both corporate and individual clients. From planning a culinary road trip or multigenerational vacation, to customizing exclusive wilderness adventures in the Maine woods, each is built to provide a personalized experience for Maine travelers.
Being a tourist-based business in Maine is nothing new, but the quarantine limitations and restrictions place on it this tourist season definitely is.
Rachel Sağıroğlu, a client of the CEI Women’s Business Center, who works in the tourism business, shared how she is adjusting to the “new normal” this season. Rachel has just started her new venture, Experience Maine, a destination concierge and event planning service, in August 2019.
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Faced with the loss of business due to coronavirus restrictions on the tourism industry, a Maine woman has turned to selling the experience of the state without people actually having to travel here.
Through her website Experience Maine, Rachel Sagiroglu is selling made-in-Maine products, with some of the proceeds going to the Maine Tourism Relief Fund.
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Experience Maine, a full-service travel concierge and event planning company, has launched a new online store showcasing handcrafted Maine products, with 20 percent of sales in June benefiting the Maine Tourism Association’s Maine Tourism Relief Fund. Designed to provide relief to businesses and their employees experiencing hardship because of COVID-19, this fund’s grants will be made to Maine businesses with less than 50 employees in tourism-related industries, including restaurants, retail, hotels and lodging, outdoor recreation, event planning, and more. Its signature product is the custom-designed Maine Treasure Box filled with quality gifts and specialty products from local artisans and food purveyors. experiencemainemade.com
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A new program intends to make one-time grants to help businesses and workers in Maine’s tourism industry impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
The Maine Tourism Relief Fund was created by the Maine Tourism Association and Poland Spring, which donated $100,000 to jump-start the program. Bissel Brothers Brewing and Experience Maine are also contributors.
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The Maine Tourism Association and Poland Spring Water Co. have launched a $100,000 fund that will award small grants to the state’s tourism businesses and employees affected by the COVID-19 crisis.
Poland Spring has contributed the initial money for the fund. Travel concierge startup Experience Maine and Portland-based Bissell Brothers Brewing Co. are donating portions of their sale proceeds from Maine-made products.
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The fund was founded by Poland Spring and the Maine Tourism Association. Contributors to the fund include Experience Maine and Bissell Brothers Brewing.
Thanks to a donation of $100,000 by Poland Spring and the work of the Maine Tourism Association, one-time grants will be made available to Maine’s tourism businesses and employees who have been impacted by a loss of business, or decrease in income, due to the COVID-19 crisis.
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Experience Maine recently opened its own online store, featuring Maine artists and small businesses. The new website is called Experience Maine Made. They recently announced that 20 percent of all sales from the store in May will go to the Maine Tourism Relief Fund.
That fund was organized by the Maine Tourism Association and Poland Spring, and is aimed towards hospitality businesses with less than 50 employees.
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The focus now is on getting businesses to survive this year “so we can recover for next year,” Cameron said. A partnership with Poland Spring, which provided the seed money, established the Toursim Relief Fund in April. The $100,000 fund provides grants for small businesses hit by the pandemic.
The MTA collaborated with businesses like Bissell Bros. Brewing and Experience Maine on special products, with proceeds going to the relief fund.
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Best in Travel 2020 Top Regions
The best destinations, journeys and sustainable travel experiences for the year ahead.
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Experience Maine, a new travel concierge and event planning company in Cumberland, aims to retool tourism marketing and expand Maine’s corporate meeting and events market. Founder Rachel Sagiroglu will curate, design and plan travel experiences for corporate and individual clients, according to a news release.
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Experience Maine, a new full-service travel concierge and event planning company, will attract experience seekers to the state and expand Maine’s corporate meeting and events market. Responding to a need to retool tourism marketing and grow business-related travel, Experience Maine Founder Rachel Sagiroglu will curate, design, and plan unique travel experiences for both corporate and individual clients.
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Rachel Sagiroglu is passionate about all that Maine has to offer. That is why she decided to start Experience Maine, a new full-service travel concierge and event planning company. Rachel knew that tourism is Maine’s largest industry, but noticed that the corporate meetings and events segment of the industry has only grown by 50,000 business-related travelers in the last three years. With over 20 years of experience in event planning, she wanted to help expand Maine’s corporate meeting and events market.
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Rachel Sagiroglu launched a new business Experience Maine, a travel concierge and event planning company. Sagiroglu, of Cumberland, has more than 20 years of experience planning meetings, events, and experiential marketing campaigns. She previously worked in marketing at WEX.
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“Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air”Ralph Waldo Emerson
