Whether it’s the zesty freshness of Seville oranges, gingerbread at Christmas time in Germany, or the scent of the perfume worn on your wedding day, of all the five senses, smell is the most powerful trigger of memory.
That’s why Trafalgar, the world’s leading travel brand with innovation at its heart, has just created a perfume to harness the power of scent, connecting incredible travel memories. The scent was created in collaboration with iconic French perfumery house, Fragonard, partners of the brand for 40 years and just like Trafalgar, both leaders and innovators within their respective categories.
Trafalgar’s brand philosophy is connecting its guests to The Good Life, naming the fragrance La Belle Vie, the French equivalent. Through this perfume, their guests can continue to connect to The Good Life, long after their journey has ended.
“When one travels all five senses are used, but the sense that stands out the most is smell,” says Gavin Tollman, Trafalgar’s CEO. “It instantly transports us back to moments in time, connects us to places and reignites special memories and we wanted to celebrate this core connection to travel”.
Just one inhalation and all the joy and wonder of an amazing experience can come flooding back. It’s all thanks to the olfactory bulb, which connects your nose with your brain, passing through the two areas of the brain housing emotion and memory. Our senses of sight, sound and touch do not make contact with these areas of the brain, hence they don’t as easily evoke the kind of intense memory and emotion as scent can.
Travelling to the perfume capital of the world
One will be hard pressed to find a more fragrant travel experience than visiting the Medieval-era Grasse, hidden in the hills north of Cannes.
The town is the perfume capital of the world and home to the world’s leading fragrance houses. In fact, the flowers used to create Marilyn Monroe’s favourite scent, Chanel No.5, are grown and harvested here.
Today, travellers can still watch the time-honoured French tradition of local women picking rose, jasmine, lavender, myrtle and wild mimosa in seemingly endless fields.
As such, the legacies of perfume, scent and travel are deeply rooted in the hearts of the locals.
“When you smell something, you are already travelling; travelling in your mind, travelling in the flower fields,” says Agnes Webster, CEO of the House of Fragonard.
The legacy of Fragonard perfumery
Fragonard has been a family-run business since 1926, when entrepreneur Eugène Fuchs decided to establish a perfumery in Grasse, selling directly to the tourists who were starting to discover the charms of the French Riviera. Named after the Grasse-born 18th-century painter, Jean-Honoré Fragonard, the name was a tribute to the town and Fuchs’ dedication to arts and heritage. The business eventually passed into the hands of Fuchs’ grandson, Jean-François Costa and his wife, Hélène. His three daughters run the business today, including Museums in Eze and Paris, with Agnes at the helm as CEO.
Travel and fragrance have always been deeply intertwined for her.
“For me perfume is travel. Smell follows you. Perfume is part of yourself, it follows you all over the world.”
Creating La Belle Vie the Fragrance
For Trafalgar, it was an obvious choice to partner with Fragonard.
“When we first met with Agnes to talk about how we would further enrich our guests’ experiences, it quickly became obvious that by co-crafting La Belle Vie we would be able to offer a tangible way to unlock rich travel memories” adds Tollman.
“The perfumer/nose took inspiration from a scented flower when crafting La Belle Vie,” says Webster.
“Once used a love potion in ancient times, the scent is indicative of the love affair of travel, inspired by the natural environment in which the flower grows,” he added.
La Belle Vie the Fragrance for both men and women is available exclusively for Trafalgar guests travelling through France, on itineraries visiting Paris, Eze and Grasse.
For guests travelling on the brand’s Paris Explorer trip, the brand offers an included insider experience at Fragonard’s Parisian Headquarters. An official Fragonard ‘nose’ will unlock the history and secrets of perfume. Guests can then get ‘hands-on’ and ‘mix-and-match’ 3 components of the La Belle Vie fragrance to create their own to take with them.
With travellers seeking out brands with a great record of delivering, quality rich experiences that fulfill their travel dreams, connecting them to the real soul of the places they visit to provide them with lasting travel memories.
Trafalgar offers guests a multi-dimensional travel experience, delivering travel moments that open up a destination like no other brand can offer. Guests will discover at a grassroots level how choosing Trafalgar is making a genuine and visible impact to people and the places we visit.
Through JoinTrafalgar experiences, travellers support World Heritage Listed Sites on 63% of trips, and itineraries are planned to encourage tourism dispersal to ensure more people go beyond the iconic attractions.
Trafalgar has also announced 100% Definite Departures for its 2019 Europe & Britain summer season to allow travellers peace of mind when booking their holidays. With an extensive range of 100+ award-winning European trips and a 4.7/5 independent Feefo rating, it’s now the perfect time to book a trip to Europe. To find out more, visit www.trafalgar.com