Fast-Growing Travel Companies Break With Agency Traditions

What does the successful leisure travel agency of the future look like? It could well be one that bears little resemblance to a traditional travel agency. That is certainly indicated by the success of Audley Travel U.S. and Indagare Travel, which both made Inc. Magazine’s 2019 list of the top 5,000 fastest-growing privately held companies in the U.S. Each focuses on providing highly customized itineraries and does so with a business model quite unlike that of most travel agencies. Audley Travel U.S. Founded in the UK over 20 years ago, Audley Travel opened an office in Boston in 2014 and formed Audley Travel U.S. Since then the U.S. operation has steadily expanded to 260 employees and posted over 300 percent growth in just the past year, according to the Inc. 5000 list where it ranks at 1,336. What makes Audley different from most travel agencies? For one thing, it does not seek out generalist travel advisors or work with independent contractors. Instead, the company hires “travel specialists,” people who may have little or no experience as travel advisors but who do have a deep interest or knowledge pertaining to a particular country or region. “At a traditional travel agency you tend to have people who will handle a broad range of destinations for their clients,” said Jacqui Lewis, president and managing director of Audley Travel U.S. “We don’t do that here. Instead, we hire travel specialists who focus only a specific corner of the world. It might be a region like Southeast Asia or one or two countries in Europe that complement each other.” While