TUI Group, Intrepid to Part Ways

TUI Group and the founders of Intrepid Travel have announced that they are ending their PEAK Adventure Travel Group (PEAK) strategic venture.

The mutually agreed decision to end their four-year partnership will allow each group to best serve their respective adventure market segments.

Under the new arrangement, Intrepid Travel co-founders Darrell Wade and Geoff Manchester will take back full ownership of the original adventure travel brand they founded in 1989, as well as a portfolio of leading brands that will make up the Intrepid Group.

Darrell Wade (pictured, in the centre) will continue as CEO alongside James Thornton, the first managing director of the Intrepid Group, which includes Adventure Tours Australia, Geckos Adventures, Intrepid Travel, Peregrine Adventures, The Family Adventure Company, Urban Adventures plus the company’s group of destination management companies.

A newly created Adventure Specialist Division sitting within TUI’s Specialist Group will bring together a collection of higher-end experiential brands – Exodus, Headwater, TrekAmerica, Grand American Adventures and Sawadee (which previously operated under the PEAK umbrella) with Quark Expeditions, Zegrahm Expeditions and International Expeditions (which previously operated within the Specialist Group’s North American Specialist Division). In addition, this division will also include UK-based World Challenge and AmeriCan Adventures, a US-based destination management company.

Reporting into Martin Froggatt, the division led by its MD Hans Lagerweij, will focus on innovating within the more specialist experiential holiday market to meet travellers’ increasingly adventurous demands.

Explaining the decision, Wade – PEAK’s former CEO – commented, “Over the last four years we’ve seen huge growth in the adventure travel sector globally. Whilst the formation of PEAK served all brands well at the time, we now recognize that we have different priorities and business philosophies.”