OUR MISSION
Curating unforgettable experiences that blend culture,
history, and culinary exploration to showcase the essence of downtown Victoria alongside its hidden gems.
OUR HISTORY
From our very quick beginning in 2019 followed quickly by a
2 year hiatus, Hidden Victoria Tours is growing rapidly every year and expanding our tours to showcase more of this beautiful city. Our passionate guides are the key to making these experiences unforgettable.
A message from Emily:
Our start was from a chance taken on me to provide a walking food tour for the cruise ship industry in the city. Without a lot of questions asked about my abilities, I didn’t sleep for 3 weeks figuring out where to take large groups of people on Friday and Saturday nights to try some bites when the ships come during the busiest time of the week!
I hired a woman, Karen, without any vendors, a script or a route but I asked her to stay tuned and what I needed most from her is for her to want me to be successful. 2 weeks later, we did 2 practice tours for any friend that I could convince to come. The rest is history!
I had 4 guides in my first year, I did every single tour I could and started learning more about the demographic of people I was taking.
Forward to 2022, the now established Bites & Sights tour started selling well on the cruise ships and I was able to book many more tours and hire 12 guides. Luckily, because of the experience from the year before, I had been in every situation any of my guides would find themselves in and worked alongside them, working day and night doing 10 tours a week for 6 months straight. I bought red vests to represent my company and now had an army of red vests walking around the city.
I have established many amazing relationships around the city working with different businesses. In 2023, I brought a quarter of a million dollars into the city to be spend at my partner’s establishments.
Going into 2024, those partnerships have flourished and I am able to provide more tours for the non-cruise ship travelers and locals in the city. This year the Victoria Harbour Ferries have joined forces with Hidden Victoria to provide a much-needed guided Pickle Pub Crawl, a well-established tour that has been offered in Victoria for a long time.
My passion for this city is palpable and my energy fits perfectly with this fast moving, entertaining industry. I’m looking forward to having many more amazing steps and branches to this journey.