FED up with the smell of bad drains and rotting food every time you check into a cheap package-holiday hotel? If so, here’s some good news for your nose because the latest trend in vacations is “scent-themed”, writes Julie Earle-Levine.

Aroma Tours, an Australian company, organises holidays to nice-smelling places. Imagine frolicking in fields of lavender, walking through the scent markets in Turkey, or enjoying an aromatic massage in Bali.

The firm’s owners, Robbi Zeck and Jim Llewellyn, wanted to give travellers “a feast of unforgettable sensory delights”. Llewellyn is a sommelier, photographer and travel writer, and Zeck is an author and expert at curing disorders using herbs and other natural means.

Both love travel and decided to create off-the- beaten-path, aromatic adventures for small groups to idyllic regions in the world.

The scent of coconut oil on the beach is lovely, but why not try Aromas of Italy, where guests roam the verdant hills and vineyards of Tuscany and visit villages and restaurants.

The Turkish Aromatic Odyssey trails through Istanbul, spice markets, bazaars, ancient sites, fields of roses and rose-oil distilleries.

On another tour, travellers pick their own flowers, then return to the rose distillery where they can stomp mountains of rose petals to create rose oil.

In Flavours of Provence, guests stay at an aromatherapy retreat and are taken on visits to various distilleries, plants and flower markets.

Zeck and Llewellyn promise “to satisfy the senses and soothe the soul of even the most seasoned traveller”. They organise schedules around the seasons, and to meet demand. According to their website, most tours are booked well in advance, and there are many repeat customers.

Aroma tours may not work too well in some of the world’s less salubrious cities — the promise of smells of some of Europe’s more industrial towns might not attract too many customers. But if you are a wannabe travel agent looking for an untapped niche in the market then, judging by the success of Aroma Tours, you could do worse than follow your nose.

www.aroma-tours.com