I remember the first time I came across sustainable and ethical travel practices. It was back in the early noughties, when my best friend absolutely insisted we travel to Morocco and Egypt with Intrepid, a company I’d never heard of at the time.
I recall the tour leader educating us about how we’d carry our rubbish along with us in our backpacks as we hiked through the mountains and how we’d visit a village and meet the local women selling woven products to support their families. I still practice those ideals when I go on holiday to this day.
Of course, back then, for most of us, “sustainable travel” was not a term that was on our radar. These days, responsible travel is part and parcel of the landscape – and it’s only increasing, if you look at all the research around the future of travel.
Indeed, this is all part of Intrepid’s DNA and it doesn’t surprise me that the company is on an expansion path.
Our Publisher Damian Francis went to Intrepid’s 35th anniversary celebration at The Lume in Melbourne this week, where Managing Director Brett Mitchell outlined the company’s three key initiatives.
First cab off the rank is its focus on doubling down in the small group touring category, one of the fastest growing categories in the travel space right now, according to Mitchell. He revealed that “[Intrepid] will finish up 18% for the calendar year in terms of growth for this market”.
Next is Intrepid’s growth in the accommodation space. Earlier this year, the company acquired Daintree Eco Lodge for $15 million, as well as off-grid 27-property CABN in Seppeltsfield, South Australia.
Mitchell believes there is a lot of opportunity around providing nature- and experience-led accommodation in remote areas that are focused on hyper-local communities.
Thirdly, Intrepid is keen to grow its business within Australia.
“We want to offer more experiences here in our own backyard. We know there’s a lot of innovation needed,” he said. “We’re pretty excited about what we can do in our own backyard, whether it’s remote travel in the outback or two hours from Brisbane, Sydney or Melbourne.”
Intrepid revealed its 2030 strategy back in March, in the hope of doubling its customer base and reaching $1.3 billion in revenue, 1% of which will go to purpose-led initiatives.
Outside of Intrepid, there was a lot else going on in the industry.
On Thursday, Australian travel tech company Pelikin announced it has gone into administration. CEO Sam Brown confirmed that customer funds are 100% secure and the company’s travel money cards and app remain fully operational.
On Tuesday, we ran the news that Verve Travel and Leisure has been purchased by the UK-based Gray Dawes Group.
Verve is run by Kathryn and Kurt Sari and turned over more than $35 million. The company currently has offices in Melbourne and Brisbane.
We’ve also got our eye on Gray Dawes – it will be interesting to see what the next steps will be for the business, which is continuing its major acquisition push into the Australian market.
Sadly, expedition cruise line Ponant and Paspaley Pearls have decided to end their partnership before the first journey. They had originally planned to take guests on an ultra-luxury yacht experience in the Kimberley region.
Affected agent commissions will be protected and customers will be offered the option of either a full refund or an additional saving to rebook on another sailing across Ponant’s fleet.
Global travel platform Nexus has just opened in Melbourne o ff the back of its APAC expansion and will service inbound travel generated to the region. Nexus also recently secured US$50 million in Series A funding.
And lastly, I’ve just heard the figurative whoosh of the latest Special Report sent off to our readers. It’s our third issue, and this time, we’re focusing on the world of travel tech.
As part of the report, I had some fabulous conversations with FCTG Global Chief Experience Officer John Morhous, Webjet CEO Katrina Barry and Jamie Pherous, MD at Corporate Travel Management.
It was really fascinating to hear about how the three businesses are approaching artificial intelligence, as well as the impact their initiatives have had for agents and their customers. Meanwhile, Damian and I chatted with a few different agents about their thoughts on NDC and how it’s panning out for them. One may have described it as “a shit show”, but another espoused the benefits the platform has had for her company.
Anyway, I’m off to now pack for an exciting famil with Aviareps to Budapest over the weekend! I’ll keep you guys updated with our adventures while I’m away.
Over and out, Jo
