Our aim is to offer pilgrimages to the major Italian and European Shrines, because we know that all around the world a great number of Christians dream to go on a pilgrimage tour to Italy or to Europe or to the Holy Land at least once in their life. The tour escorts who, besides having an excellent command of the mother tongue of the Group, pay much attention to all the technical details of the group and to the needs of every single group. From the first day of the pilgrimage tours the tour leader, speaking the mother tongue of the group, will stay with the pilgrims and assist them at all times. The tour leaders have been working with pilgrims’ groups for many years and they know the Italian and European Shrines included in the tours very well. Professional local guides, speaking the mother tongue of the Group, will lead the Group in a detailed and complete visit of these places. We focus our attention on what makes the difference to a pilgrim: If there’s a Priest travelling with the Group, we reserve daily private Masses in the most important Basilicas and Shrines in Italy and Europe; We reserve the tickets to attend the Papal Audience in Rome on Wednesday; We try to organize the visits to make it possible for the Group to be in Rome on Sundays for Angelus with the Holy Father in St. Petes’s Square.

Our experience of more than 20 years in the organization of trips for groups has showed us the utmost importance of the Tour Escort for the success of the tour. This is why we carefully select our Tour Escorts who perfectly know the itineraries that we entrust to them and who are always friendly, helpful and kind with the members of the groups. They have a perfect knowledge of the cities and sites and pay attention to every detail in order to guarantee the positive outcome of the tour. We're able to provide Tour Escorts who speak the following languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Italian. All the tour escorts who work with us have a regular license issued by the European country in which they live.

We always pay special attention to the reservation of the buses and for our groups. Our service provider has a special partnership with a large bus company that owns more than 100 deluxe buses. They have all the regular licences and all the necessary and compulsory insurance policies to travel throughout Europe. The buses are all maximum 4 years old and they are all equipped with the most updated facilities such as TV set, CD, electronic air-conditioning system, ergonomic seats and satellite navigator. Upon request, we can also book and ensure buses with on board washroom without any problems. The drivers are all very professional, discreet , polite and very good at driving. All the partner bus companies are subject to EU driver regulations.

Prices depend, of course, on the number of people travelling in the Group. The higher is the number of persons inside the Group, the lower the price per person since the fixed cost such as the cost of the bus, of the Tour Escort, of the local guides, ect, are divided among more people. Prices are different according to low and high season.

What we need to know to be able to send you a detailed and precise estimate quote for your group is:

1) The foreseen dates (at least the month when the group intends to travel); 2) The type of group (cultural, religious, business, school, etc.); 3) The size of the group (the number of people you expect to travel); 4) The category of accommodation required (Tourist Class Hotels 3 stars, First Class 4 stars, Deluxe Hotels 5 stars) 5) The meal basis (breakfast - lunches - dinners); 6) The info concerning the itinerary (the cities the group wants to visit, where they want to have guided City Tours or free time, which entraces to museums they want to include, etc). 7) If your group needs our professional tour escort throughout the tour or not.
The above info will enable us to prepare for you a detailed estimate quote: the more info we receive about your group’s needs, the more accurate our estimate quote will be!

Booking: All reservation requests must be made through the tour operator, head office or branches by email.

Deposit: A 20% deposit of the total is required at the confirmation of the group. An invoice will be sent for this deposit as soon as we receive the group's confirmation. The group will be considered confirmed upon receipt of the deposit.

Balance of payment: Each group must be paid in full at least 4 weeks before group's arrival in Europe.

Cancellation policy: If the entire group is cancelled - a) up to 120 days prior to the scheduled arrival date, the whole group can be cancelled without any fees; b) Between 120 and 30 days prior to the scheduled arrival date, a charge of 20% penalty fee will be applied (the deposit); c) Between 30 and 10 days prior to scheduled arrival date, a 90% penalty fee will be applied to the total value of the group; d) 10 days before scheduled arrival date, a 100% penalty fee will be applied on the total value of the group.
If a few passengers are cancelled, up to a maximum 20% of the total number of confirmed passengers. a) Up to 30 days prior to the group's arrival, up to 20% of the confirmed passengers can be cancelled without any fee; b) Between 30 and 10 days prior to group's arrival, 20% penalty fee; c) Between 10 and 1 days prior to group's arrival, 50% penalty fee d) No show, 100% penalty fee.

Refunds: Refund requests for cancelled reservations should be made in writing indicating name of guest(s) and and all services that the client(s) intends to cancel.

Responsibility: As far as services offered in the groups section of this website are concerned, Alitours International Inc. and its suppliers of services shall act only as agents or intermediaries for passengers in arrangements for hotels, transportation, or any other service and are not liable for any injury, damage, death, loss, accident or delay to person or belonging due to an act of negligence, strike or default of any hotel, carrier or person rendering any of the services included in the groups section of this website.