Intrepid’s global growth surges with landmark European deal
Australian travel giant Intrepid has acquired Dutch tour operator Sawadee Reizen in its biggest European expansion move yet, pushing it a stop closer to its ambitious $1bn revenue goal.
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Australian travel firm, Intrepid, is continuing its global expansion, buying leading Dutch tour operator, Sawadee Reizen.
The deal, which will significantly increase its footprint in the European travel market, will boost Intrepid’s annual turnover by $100m giving the privately owned Melbourne-based company access to another 20,000 customers a year.
The latest deal is the largest in a string of acquisitions by the company, which had an annual turnover of some $536m in 2023.
It bought assets from Kimberley Wild Expeditions (KWE) in September last year including the Bungle Bungle Camp in WA.
This followed moves to boost its operations in New Zealand buying Haka Tours and ANZ Nature Tours, in 2023.
Other acquisitions in the past few years have included buying a majority share in Perth based adventure tour company, JOOB (Jump Out Of Bed), and investing $7.85m in CABN, an Australian company specialising in off-grid cabin accommodations in 2022.
In the same year, it also bought Wildland Trekking (USA).
Originally founded in 1989, its original co founders took back 100 per cent ownership of the company in 2015.
Its expansion plans were hit by the Covid years which saw the group lose $17.4m in the 2022 calendar year.
But since borders opened up in 2022, it has ridden the boom of expanding adventure travel.
Its earnings before interest, depreciation and tax recovered to $34.6m in 2023 with its 2024 results expected to be released in March.
The company’s chief executive, James Thornton, said the latest deal was expected to boost the company’s earnings by an extra $5m.
He said the purchase from UK travel company, Travelopia, was a “landmark deal, signalling a major step into a new market and an ambition to grow its style of small group travel in Europe.”
Headquartered in Amsterdam, Sawadee is one of the largest “experiential” tour operators in the Netherlands which offers more than 250 trips across 100 countries with a global staff of 180.
Mr Thornton said the deal was in line with Intrepid’s strategy to become a $1bn company in the next five years.
He said the deal would make the Netherlands Intrepid’s fourth largest source market, after Australia, the US and the UK.
He said the two companies had enjoyed a successful working partnership since 2011.
“We’re delighted to welcome the Sawadee team to Intrepid after more than a decade working successfully together,” he said.
“Intrepid aims to be the world’s largest vertically integrated experiential travel company and bringing our two brands together is a major step towards that.”
Under the deal, Sawadee will continue to be led by Managing Director Berend Simons, who will report to Intrepid’s Managing Director EMEA, Zina Bencheikh.
It will remain based in Amsterdam and will continue to operate with its existing name and brand, which is well-recognised in the Netherlands.
Originally published as Intrepid’s global growth surges with landmark European deal
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