About Visit South America
Visit South America is a tour operator and Destination Management Company (DMC) that designs private and small-group journeys across Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. Founded in 2015 by Hilton Davila and Jeffry Soria, we have guided more than 5,000 travelers, and we hold a 4.9 out of 5 rating across 700+ verified Tripadvisor reviews. The company is incorporated in the United States as Visit South America LLC, registered with the IRS and headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California, with locally staffed teams on the ground in Cusco and Lima, La Paz and Uyuni, and San Pedro de Atacama.
That is the short version. Here is the real one.
We met doing the same stubborn thing from two different corners of the continent: telling the world that South America deserved more than a two-week checklist.
Neither of us came from the tourism industry. We came from the road. We were the ones sleeping in bus terminals in Potosí, eating at markets in Cusco because it was what we could afford, learning that the best guide in a village is rarely the one with a website. We were also writing about it — obsessively — because the South America we were seeing looked nothing like the South America that appeared in most travel media.
Everything that follows grew out of that gap.
Hilton and Jeff joined forces after realizing they were doing identical work in parallel: introducing South America to the rest of the world. Together we published physical and digital magazines that gathered hundreds of travelers — people who had crossed dozens or hundreds of countries — and connected them so their experiences could be shared.
It became a community with a single purpose: share what makes South America extraordinary. A continent with everything — culture, nature, gastronomy, and destinations that exist nowhere else on Earth. Places worth crossing an ocean for.
By 2016 our community had grown past 700,000 followers: travelers who wanted to discover South America for themselves. So we took the leap from showing the continent to walking it with people.
We ran our first group expeditions — 14 to 21 days across Peru, Bolivia and Chile. They worked. Thousands of messages, emails and calls followed, and what had been a publishing project became a travel company. That year we began selling private tours in Peru, Bolivia and Chile.
By early 2018 we had welcomed more than 1,000 travelers. The next leap was not growth for its own sake — it was quality.
Together with a team of dreamers behind us, we traveled through seven South American countries: Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador. We met tour operators, freelance guides and local agencies face to face, testing and certifying each one against our own standard of demands. No supplier entered our network without us having traveled with them first.
It was the expansion that let us say to the world, with evidence, that South America is the perfect destination for travelers who want something genuinely different.
After the global pause in tourism, we resumed operations and adapted to a changed world. Through all of it we never stopped sharing traveler stories on our social channels, our website and beyond.
Getting the whole team back on its feet was the hardest thing we have done. It also became one of our most successful years. People were ready to travel again — and they came back to us.
Here we are: a more professional version of ourselves, with deeper expertise and dozens of travel agents ready to answer every question about your next adventure.
In 2024 we incorporated Visit South America LLC in the United States, giving our international and B2B clients a US-registered counterparty to contract with — while every tour still runs through our own local teams on the ground.
We are adding new destinations steadily and expanding as a DMC serving B2B clients worldwide — companies that trust us to run their South American operations. We work as a hybrid tour operator with committed local teams in Bolivia, Peru and Chile, and as the connecting bridge to Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador.
We are still committed nomads. We understand what travelers need because we are travelers. Eleven years and counting — with a new generation ready for whatever this noble industry asks next.
Every itinerary we build is better than the last. We design smart routes that arrive first and use the spaces before the crowds — so you get a real experience, and the best photographs. Our Rainbow Mountain tour exists specifically to put our group on the summit before anyone else.
Our teams are local. Every single one. Local guides, local drivers, local partners — trained to international standards but rooted in the places they show you. This is not a marketing line; it is how the money stays in the communities you visit.
We actively seek ways to reduce the environmental impact of every journey we operate.
We work directly with small communities in the Sacred Valley, Uyuni, Potosí, Sucre and Atacama, creating fair opportunities and letting those communities share a piece of their own culture on their own terms, with real contributions in return.
Travel goes wrong sometimes, often for reasons no one controls. We are available to our travelers before, during and after every trip — because we know that external problems still need someone who understands. Admitting a mistake is not weakness. It is the only way to fix it.
Family trip, close friends, or a honeymoon. Our travel experts build unforgettable experiences for groups of no more than 5 people.
Yes. We operate as Visit South America LLC, a limited liability company incorporated in the United States and registered with the Internal Revenue Service, headquartered in Aliso Viejo, California. Our tours in Peru and Bolivia are delivered by our licensed local operating teams. B2B partners can request a completed W-9 and full documentation at any time.
Since 2015. Our founders began working together in 2014 and ran the first group expeditions in 2016. We have operated continuously since, apart from the global tourism pause of 2020–2021. Visit South America LLC was incorporated in the United States in 2024 to serve our growing international and B2B client base.
We directly operate tours in Peru, Bolivia and Chile with our own local teams, based in Cusco and Lima, La Paz and Uyuni, and San Pedro de Atacama. We also arrange travel in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia and Ecuador through partners we have personally vetted and traveled with.
A maximum of 5 people. We specialize in private and small-group travel.
Yes. We operate as a DMC for B2B clients worldwide, handling ground operations in South America for agencies, tour operators and companies.
Hilton Davila and Jeffry Soria, two South American travelers and travel writers who began publishing about the continent in 2014.
We hold a 4.9 out of 5 rating across more than 700 verified Tripadvisor reviews spanning our operations in Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Ecuador, and we are additionally reviewed on Trustpilot and Google.
We are Latin American, and we are in love with our own ground. We worked hard to get here and we are not slowing down.
Today we are a company you can trust with the trip you have been saving for — with the people, the registration, the local teams and the eleven years of road behind us to prove it.
South America is waiting. Let's plan it properly.
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