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Tour guide owner and operator Clay Beason’s mission is to offer guided international trips that offer the most value and provide the most impact for those participating. “Our goal is to provide group tours that open participants’ world view and focus on the importance of learning onsite about this world which we inhabit,” he says of Tours by Clay Beason.
Beason, who lives in Searcy and works as a professor of education at Harding University, first traveled to Europe in summer 2007, when he and his wife, Loren, taught at Harding University’s international program in Florence, Italy, known colloquially as “HUF.”
“I did not grow up talking about travel abroad,” Beason said. “I really did not know much about it or have much interest in it. But after we had the opportunity to teach at HUF, it changed our world. We loved it, and it started a fire within us to lead people to Europe and show them different cultures, languages, foods, history and beauty.”
On that trip to Florence, a couple of the students were Harding athletes. But Beason said, “When we got back, I had several athletes tell me, ‘I wish I could study abroad, but with the season, off-season and summer work, it is very difficult for that to happen.’”
He felt it was a shame that athletes were missing out on such an integral part of Harding life, so he and Loren created the BAT (Bison Athletes in Training) program, an abbreviated program that went to Italy and Germany and later Greece. Along with coursework, workouts were built into the schedule. They directed that program in 2011, 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022 and 2023.
Several years later, Clay and Loren would move to Europe to direct Harding’s campus in Greece, from 2015 to 2018. It was during this experience that Tours by Clay Beason was born.
“Whenever we would get to a new city with our students, we would ask them to raise their hands if their parents had ever been to that city — Athens, Thessaloniki, Jerusalem, Istanbul, Rome, Cairo, etc.,” Beason said. “Out of the many students, very few would raise their hands. I told them they needed to be thankful and tell their parents ‘thank you’ for allowing them to do something that they themselves had not even done yet. When we moved back to the United States, we told the parents, ‘It is your turn to do a mini travel abroad.’”
While they lived in Europe, teaching classes and immersing themselves in different cultures — they became well versed in the fun and rigors of European travel. They explored the ancient land of Greece extensively, as they learned about and grew to appreciate in particular the Mediterranean culture. They hosted numerous educational groups with participants from ages 1 to 87, leading hundreds of people in 10 different countries, while also visiting 34 countries and principalities.
“Tours by Clay Beason has grown to be open to all who want to have a European experience, do the ‘big’ sites but also many off-the-beaten sites, pay less — we don’t have any overhead, and travel with a smaller group than most groups,” Beason said.
All of their tours in 2025 are limited to 16 or fewer people, with several of the tours limited to eight people.
“We just get a nine-passenger van and drive all over Europe, stopping when we want to and going at our own speed,” he added. “This allows for many ‘happy surprises’ that we didn’t even know would happen.
One particularly big upcoming surprise is the “Mystery Tour.” It filled up in less than one hour when advertised.
“I am pumped about our ‘Mystery Tour’ coming this summer,” Beason said. “The participants signed up for this and do not know the itinerary. It will have somewhat of an ‘Amazing Race’ vibe.”
Many Tours by Clay Beason participants are repeat guests. “We have been fortunate to have all 13 tours up to this point full, and all four tours in 2025 full,” Beason said. “And the biggest compliment is when people go on multiple tours with us. We want people to feel they are getting a great deal and having a wonderful experience. We are not afraid to explore new places. We learn more with each and every tour, and that helps strengthen future tours. I think most people are also surprised about how much they get with our tour prices.”
Beason said traveling with a guided group actually makes international travel a better value. “You save so much time by going with someone who knows where they are going and knows the ins and outs of places,” he said. “Efficiency in both time and money.”
Ultimately, Beason views his work as a tour guide as a means of giving back. “Travel changed us, and we want to make travel a reality for as many people as possible,” he said.
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