Intrepid Travel Acquires Dutch Tour Operator, Its Biggest Acquisition Yet: Exclusive
Skift Take
Adventure tour operator Intrepid Travel has acquired Dutch tour operator Sawadee Reizen from Travelopia in what Intrepid said is its largest acquisition by far.
Melbourne, Australia-based Intrepid did not disclose the acquisition price. But said adding the Dutch-language tour operator, based in Amsterdam, would add 20,000 customers to its roster, increase Intrepid's annual revenue by AUS $100 million ($62 million), and add 3 million euros ($3.08 million) to EBITDA.
"It just gives us greater size and scale, and for the first time, really gives us exposure to non-English speaking markets," Intrepid CEO James Thornton told Skift in an exclusive interview. "Our focus has been on UK, U.S., and Australia as our core source markets. And it's going to mean that the Netherlands becomes our fourth largest source market."
New Zealand would move from fourth to fifth in Intrepid's ranking of largest source markets.
Thornton said the acquisition of Sawadee, the second largest tour operator in the Netherlands, is more than double the size of Intrepid's previous largest acquisition, U.S.-based Wildland Trekking in 2022.
