TTG exclusive: Intrepid Group founders and group managing director on why the PEAK Adventure Travel Group is no more, writes Lucy Siebert in Melbourne

Intrepid Travel founders Geoff Manchester (left) and Darrell Wade (right) with group managing director, James Thornton.

Tui Group and the founders of Intrepid Travel are parting ways four years after forming the PEAK Adventure Travel Group under a strategic agreement that was aimed at creating the largest adventure travel group in the world.

Under the deal announced today, the founders of Intrepid Travel Darrell Wade and Geoff (‘Manch’) Manchester regain full control of the Intrepid Group. The group will consist of six tour operator brands, its destination management company brand, PEAK DMC and The Intrepid Foundation.

An Adventure Specialist Division will be created within Tui’s Specialist Group, made up of five tour operator brands that previously sat under the PEAK Adventure Travel Group, along with some of Tui’s other adventure travel brands.

The deal is effectively an apportioning of assets, with no cash component. It is expected to complete on 31 July 2015.

Two percent of the Intrepid Group’s global workforce of 1,800 staff will, however, face redundancies.

The privately-owned Intrepid Group now consists of: Adventure Tours Australia, Gecko Adventures, Intrepid Travel, Peregrine Adventures, The Family Adventure Company and Urban Adventures, along with PEAK DMC. The group will remain headquartered in Melbourne, Australia.

Meanwhile, Tui’s Adventure Specialist Division is made up of some former PEAK Adventure Travel Group brands ­– Exodus, Headwater, TrekAmerica, Grand American Adventures and Sawadee – as well as Quark Expeditions, Segrahm Expeditions and International Expeditions (which previously operated within Tui’s Specialist Group’s North American Specialist Division) and UK-based World Challenge, along with US-based destination management company AmeriCan Adventures. Managing director Hans Lagerweij will lead the Adventure Specialist Division, reporting to Martin Froggatt.

Speaking exclusively to TTG in Melbourne, group CEO of Intrepid Group Darrell Wade described the split from Tui as “amicable” and attributed the move to the different needs and approaches of a privately-owned business and those of a publically-listed company.

“Whilst the formation of PEAK served all brands well at the time, we now recognise that we have different priorities and business philosophies,” said Wade in a statement.

Tui’s Lagerweij added: “In order to best serve these markets and remain leaders within our fields we believe it is the right time to divide PEAK’s brands to concentrate on the adventure traveller’s changing needs.”

Wade told TTG he, along with Manchester, were energised by the opportunities that lie ahead for the privately-owned company, but confirmed there would be some redundancies as a result of the deal. “We are looking at a business that is going from AUD380 million turnover to AUD220 million – there is a level of overhead cost that we just have to reduce,” he said.

Group managing director James Thornton said two percent of the group’s 1,800 global workforce would face redundancies with the majority affecting its Melbourne office. Two redundancies will occur in the UK, he confirmed, leaving the group with 50 employees there.

Thornton added he believes the move will allow the independent Intrepid Group to grow strongly, particularly in the UK and US markets.

“Having gone into it [the strategic venture], Intrepid Travel was a AUD120 million brand. From Darrell and Manch’s perspective, they come out with a number of other brands and a business that is about double the size ­– and 100 percent ownership of that, which is an exciting proposition,” said Thornton.

Wade stressed it was “business as usual” across all the former PEAK Adventure Travel Group brands, adding the trade and consumers would not be affected, or experience any immediate changes.

He added that Intrepid Group and Tui would continue to work closely in “a number of areas”, particularly with each group’s DMC brands, as well as other existing partnerships.