The Adventure Connection was established at the end of last year by Mark Wright, who has 30 years’ experience in the adventure sector, running The Adventure Company and later Chameleon Worldwide.
He said that overseas suppliers were keen not only to be introduced to UK tour operators but also to larger travel agencies who are interested in contracting directly with destination management companies (DMCs) and other local providers.
“Overseas suppliers know that some clients want the reassurance and financial protection of booking with a UK company, but it takes a long time to get into tour operators’ brochures, and operators generally want 20-25%, whereas agents might work on 15% commission,” said Wright.
“Our preference is always to work with UK tour operators who have the knowledge and systems to be able to screen out the good from the bad, the risky from the safe,” he noted.
“But there’s also this new strata of quasi-operator agents emerging, who have the scale and expertise to vet local suppliers, and hold their own Atol, and there is big potential for them within the adventure sector.”
The Adventure Connections’ clients include Sundowners Overland, which specialises in the Trans-Siberian Railway and Asia overland tours; Specialist Morocco, which owns and manages riads, lodges and a cooking school in Marrakech and the Atlas Mountains; and Unigalapagos, a DMC and cruise operator in Galapagos.
He highlighted Sundowners’ products as being of particular interest to agencies looking to offer their clients something different.
“There is an amazing story to tell about Russia, the ‘Stans and Mongolia; it’s the 100-year anniversary of the completion of the Trans-Siberian Railway but that’s not made it on to the radar of anybody in the UK. That part of the world is so unexplored,” he said.
The Adventure Connection also offers digital and video services, product development, PR and representation. The company is donating 5% of profits to conservation and sustainability causes.
Wright left Chameleon Worldwide in June 2016, several months before the specialist tour operator went into administration at the end of last year.
