Specialist tour operators Experience Travel Group and Holiday Architects (A&D Holidays Ltd t/a Holiday Architects) have announced a merger, coming together under the ownership of a new umbrella company while […]
Specialist tour operators Experience Travel Group and Holiday Architects (A&D Holidays Ltd t/a Holiday Architects) have announced a merger, coming together under the ownership of a new umbrella company while retaining their distinct brands and premises in London and Cheltenham.
‘Inquisitive Traveller’ has been launched by Experience Travel Group and Holiday Architects to leverage the strengths of each brand, harness their combined expertise and share best practice and resources. Inquisitive Traveller will see the tour operators collaborate on areas of mutual importance including sustainability and combine in-house resources from technology platforms to training and recruitment.
While not customer facing, Inquisitive Traveller will have a focus on the 50-plus, medium-to-long haul tailor-made market. Over time, Inquisitive Traveller will seek investment opportunities to build a group of leading brands that deliver immersive experiences for the inquisitive traveller market, while ensuring a lasting positive impact on local communities.
Experience Travel Group Managing Director (MD) Sam Clark said: “We are really excited to announce this alliance, harnessing our mutual strengths to boost our offer and impact, benefitting our clients and our staff. Sharing resources and expertise will also build our resilience and ability to weather future challenges and support us to attract new talent and investment.
“We are particularly excited about the opportunities to come together and collaborate on areas of importance to our respective businesses, including sustainability, and to grow our combined customer offer to the fast-growing 50-plus tailor-made market that we both currently serve.”
Holiday Architects Managing Director Andrew Hunt said: “I’ve admired ETG for a number of years now, and always felt we had complementary strengths, so I’m delighted to be joining forces with them. The chance to build a platform to speak to a wide range of audiences in our target markets, whilst also shaping the travel recovery for a more positive impact is very exciting. This is a partnership forged under the pressure of the pandemic, and I’m particularly pleased that something so positive has come out of the most testing period of time for the travel industry.”
Experience Travel Group Manager Director Sam Clark and Holiday Architects Manager Director Andrew Hunt will continue in their respective positions while also sitting on the Inquisitive Traveller board chaired by Chad Lion-Cachet. There are no other external parties involved.
The merger sees Inquisitive Traveller employ a combined staff of 40, operating across more than 30 countries. It is forecasting departures with a value of £16 million by the end of 2023. Looking ahead to the next three to five years, Inquisitive Traveller is targeting growth through the acquisition of new brands and organic expansion.
Inquisitive Traveller already has partial B-Corp certification with the aim that all future brands in the group will be B-Corp Certified. Experience Travel Group has AITO membership with Holiday Architects applying to join as soon as possible. Both companies will retain their existing ATOL licences.
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