Urban Adventures could soon become Intrepid Travel group’s leading brand, boss James Thornton has told TTG, targeting one million passengers by 2020.
The brand, launched nine years ago offering day tours as part of larger itineraries, is, Intrepid believes, ideally positioned as a gateway to its longer-form product.
Passenger numbers in 2017 were up 62% on 2016 to 172,000, with the brand on course to achieve 295,000 passengers this year (+72%), said Thornton.
Intrepid has also pledged to double investment in Urban Adventures, targeting one million passengers by 2020.
Thornton told TTG Urban Adventures was finally “coming of age”.
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Urban Adventures could soon become Intrepid Travel group’s leading brand, boss James Thornton has told TTG, targeting one million passengers by 2020.
The brand, launched nine years ago offering day tours as part of larger itineraries, is, Intrepid believes, ideally positioned as a gateway to its longer-form product.
Passenger numbers in 2017 were up 62% on 2016 to 172,000, with the brand on course to achieve 295,000 passengers this year (+72%), said Thornton.
Intrepid has also pledged to double investment in Urban Adventures, targeting one million passengers by 2020.
Thornton told TTG Urban Adventures was finally “coming of age”.
“We always believed it had great potential and we’ve invested in it a lot over the last few years,” he said. “If it continues to grow, it’s quite possible it could become the largest chunk of our business.”
Intrepid now offers more than 1,200 Urban Adventures itineraries across around 100 countries.
In 2015, it launched its In Focus tours, bringing travellers face-to-face with real issues in destinations.
It now works with 23 local organisations, NGOs and not-for-profit partners to deliver these trips and give clients the chance to make a positive contribution.
“We’re really excited to expand our In Focus tours,” said Thornton. “Our travellers certainly recognise and appreciate how these initiatives can help local communities.”
Tours range from making jewellery with Kenya’s Maasai tribeswomen to touring the Romanian capital of Bucharest with a formerly homeless local offering an alternative view of the city.
Prices average £50, with a conversion rate to full Intrepid itineraries of around 10%.
“While Urban Adventure bookings are very strong, the sale price is a lot lower,” said Thornton.
“The conversion rate doesn’t sound like much, but Intrepid tours tend to go for a lot more - £1,000 to £1,200 - so it is significant.
“Having both allows us to market specific brands to certain markets. They’re very complementary.”
Meanwhile, Thornton said Intrepid was excited to reveal its new Uncharted Expedition, a 22-day, 3,500km journey into the unknown that goes “beyond Google Maps”.
He said the £3,750 adventure, created to mark the group’s 30th anniversary, harked back to its founding spirit.
“We’ve created a range of expedition trips over the years,” he said. “This time, we just have a start point [Astana, Kazakhstan] and an end point [Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia]. What happens along the way we work out in between.
“We thought it would be a good time to go back to our roots.”
Intrepid has since confirmed the first 10 departures have already sold out, but Thornton said Intrepid would consider adding spaces to meet demand.
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