The social tour is a very good idea for older men with out extensive international travel experience. The first inclination on the older man is to ignore 30 year old women and look for women your own age. The socials will help you get your head right for the place you have never been before
I am still in two minds about the social tour: I once went to a social and I had a lot of fun. I was like a kid in a sweet shop. But I felt sorry for the ladies, it was almost 5 ladies to every man (and some of the men were just horrible), they had no choice. I remember this very attractive lady who was just walking around the social on her own with no man coming to her to chat. I did not get a long term girlfriend from it. Maybe there are men who do after going to several of these tours but these men have the time and money to spare.
I think the romance social phenomenon would apply to any lower economic region such as Southeast Asia, Africa, South America, and many other locations. When you offer free food and drinks, tons of ladies will show up. The reason for the focus on Eastern Europe is because of the sponsorship of the companies that focus on that region.
Come on, the girls turning up at a social because of free food!
In the social I went to, in Moscow, there was a group of ladies that went all the way from Siberia, at their own expense, with them paying the transport, accommodation and food plus probably some new rags to wear and look pretty for the men. They spent days in the train and went away from their jobs.
I am sure they did not do all this for a few free cheese rolls. They went there looking for a husband. I am sorry about the disappointment for them, some looked clearly pissed off in the social.
I am sure that some of the ladies are told about the social event and expect to find a nice man to meet there and the free stuff may not be the primary motive to show up. I guess I should add an amendment to say that local ladies will show up (where they do not have to travel). This reminds me of the California Gold Rush in the 1840s. Many people from overseas sailed here in search for gold. Most of them ended up with finding nothing and not enough money to travel back to their homeland.
If I spent a lot of money to go meet some foreign women and ended up meeting nobody, I would be pissed off too.