January 2012 - 10-page article on Seville in Conde Nast Traveller Magazine

October 2011 - Article in Destinasjoner, a Nrowegian Internet travel site

January 2011 - Article in Conde Nast Traveller Magazine (hard copy only)

21st December 2010 - MSN Travel article

20th December 2010 - article in the Irish Travel Trade News

26th November 2010 - article in the Daily Telegraph

22th April 2009 - article published in the Daily Telegraph, United Kingdom

11th February 2009 - we looked after the UK sponsors for the England football team in the match against Spain in Seville - see page 8!

10th February 2009 - review in Society Of Spain.org, Washington DC

16th April 2008 - article published in the Daily Mail, United Kingdom

27th January 2008 - article published in the Sunday Independent Travel Section, United Kingdom

Dear Victor,

I've just returned from the hugely enjoyable press trip to Spain and want to thank the Spanish Tourist Office. The trip was extremely well planned from start to finish. We all felt  we had not only seen and learned about a part of Spain that we didn't know about, but also had the opportunity to really get to know a side of the Spanish that was culturally intriguing and insightful. The prospect of writing a feature on all we experienced is one I greatly look forward to.

I'd also like to say that the guides we had were helpful and keen to show us "their" Spain. Without doubt, David Cox was the best press guide I've ever met. He did much to bring the group of 13 disparate journalists together, ensuring each of us had our questions answered and queries explained. But more than that, his personality and enthusiasm for Spain ensured we, as a group, got the best out of each other and he injected a sense of fun into the week ensuring it won everyone's vote as the best press trip experienced in a long while.

I've posted my boarding pass stubs as requested.

Best wishes and my thanks again,
Hannah Beecham, Editor, Expat Investor, England

13th January 2008 - article published in The Age Travel Section, Australia

Page 1 - Page 2

During a recent tour we discovered that one of the customers was an established travel journalist who is spending some time in Seville. The guide's intial reaction was "oh my god", but it appears that the customer really enjoyed the experience, as during a beer afterwards she offered to write us an article describing the experience. This was something of course we couldn't refuse, and we liked the result so much that we decided to put it on this page. Here it is:

"It's Friday evening and Seville's medieval old town, the biggest in Europe, is alive with the robust cacophony of post-work locals proficient in the art of eating, drinking and socialising. At Rinconcillo, one of the city's oldest tapas establishments, a group of four people stand around the bottle-lined bar, dipping toothpicks into tapas dishes, sipping on cerveza and generally enjoying themselves. The tallest of them is Dave Cox, a Spanish-speaking Englishman who has lived in Andalucía for four years. He orders the drinks, occasionally translates a tricky word on the menu, answers questions and shares an anecdote or two about his adopted home.

To an outsider Dave appears to be showing the ropes to friends visiting an exciting new city, but in fact the truth is rather different. The three visitors have only just met their weekend guide. Like many small tourism operators throughout Europe, Dave is one of a new breed opting out of mass market tourism and turning instead to a niche market where the cultural experience and a personal touch is of foremost importance.

Dave started Really Discover, in Seville a year ago after perceiving a hole in the local market. "There are a number of tourism operators and plenty of opportunity for visitors to walk around in groups of 15 or 20 but it's certainly not the best way to see Seville," he says. "Sure, you can see the Giralda and the Alcázar this way but it's not ideal, you're not going to discover what really makes a city like this tick. That's what we want to do, show visitors what makes Seville tick."

To succeed in this mission Dave believes groups should be small and intimate (Really Discover has a maximum of eight people per tour), and that the service should be as personalised as possible, steering well clear of groups where tourists wear nametags and follow flag-baring guides around en masse. One method certainly has the personal stamp on it. On the evening his clients arrive in Seville, Dave meets them at a tapas bar for an introduction much like the one described above. He might give them a run-down of the local customs (like standing up at the bar to eat), translate the menu and have a drink or two or be guided by what the clients feel like doing. "This has been the most successful part of the business to date," says Dave. "It's a brilliant way to get to know people and then the next day, when we meet for the actual tour, it's like catching up with friends. The visitors feel confident that they can ask questions or pick my brains for historical or local info and that's great, that's what I'm there for."

The company also offer advice and information before clients arrive in Seville, usually via email, and act as emergency contacts should they need help from a Spanish-speaker during their stay.

Then there's the tour. Rather than take visitors to the places written up in guidebooks, Really Discover is continually sourcing venues where clients have a cultural experience. Whether that be seeing an authentic flamenco performance in a local 'peña', catching a one-off music event (such as a Spanish guitar rendition) or enjoying a typical tapas experience impossible to emulate in restaurants frequented by tourists.

If a recent local government paper on the future of tourism in Andalucía is anything to go by, travel experiences like the one Really Discover offer are big on the agenda.

"There is a continuous increase in the number of tourists looking for new destinations and products that offer different types of activities - and a certain tiredness in the traditional destinations," it says.

"In particular, there is a trend towards more active tourists, both physically and mentally interested in taking part in creative activities, sports, and adventure; enjoying the natural world; and getting to know the history and heritage of places in a participative way… the new challenge is to include more aspects related to culture, history and art aiming at the typical tourist whose profile has a bent towards the more educated."

The statistics tell the same story. Of the foreign tourists that visited Spain in 2004 16,7% of those surveyed stated that they did so for cultural purposes, making it the second most important segment of foreign tourism in Spain. In the same period, cultural tourism in Andalucía moved from being a mere complement to sea and sand tourism to a tourist product that attracts 16,8% of tourists.

For Dave the facts and figures are pleasing but not surprising. "I've always been the type of traveller who revels in the actual experience, in meeting local people and gaining an understanding of the local customs and way of life so that I walk away thinking 'wow that was amazing'. If my clients leave Seville feeling this same way, then I've succeeded. That's what travel should be about. "