Intrepid Travel Acquires Dutch Tour Operator, Its Biggest Acquisition Yet: Exclusive

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.

Sawadee became available when parent company Travelopia put up for sale about a half dozen of its brands.

Both Intrepid and Sawadee notched record financial results in 2024, and the duo "has a strong cultural alignment," according to the Intrepid announcement.

Intrepid's New Europe Strategy

Intrepid, Thornton said, would be on the lookout for additional acquisitions of native language tour operators in Europe.

"And so I think what you'll see is we'll place a lot more focus on distribution in Europe, rather than just the traditional English-speaking market," Thornton said. "So now we've done the Netherlands, it would make sense that we explore other opportunities to attract customers from France or from Belgium or from Scandinavia. So that will be, I would imagine, our focus going into the future now, and that that's all part of our plan."

Expansion in Belgium could be the next step. Dutch is one of Belgium's official languages and Thornton pointed out that "the Flemish-speaking market is aligned to the Dutch market in terms of language."

AUS $1 Billion Goal for Intrepid

It's all part of Interpid's goal to become a AUS $1 billion ($618 million) company by 2030.

In 2024, Intrepid Travel's turnover grew nearly 16% to AUS $630 million, and profit was around AUS $38 million, Thornton said.

"We're growing organically at about 18% compound annual growth rate, which isn't too bad for a 35-year-old company," he said. "So we're getting decent organic growth north of $100 million every year. We've just added 100 million in terms of revenue now from Sawadee over the next two to three years. I'm very hopeful that we can get to the billion dollar mark. And a billion dollars is just important because of the kind of size and scale, and ability to have greater influence."

Thornton said Intrepid Travel is the world's largest adventure tour operator, but small when compared with a tour operator, such as TUI.

On the Ground Services Could Get Disrupted

One issue is that Sawadee currently uses Intrepid's destination management company network to operate about 27% of its tours. DMCs handle on-the-ground local support for tours, such as transportation, accommodations, and activities.

Thornton said he expects that Sawadee would use Interpid's destination management company network for at least 50% of its tours by 2026. That means that some of Sawadee's existing DMC partners would be replaced.

Intrepid and Sawadee Are No Strangers

Intrepid and Sawadee are very familiar to one another as both had been part of the TUI Group. In 2014, Intrepid became an independent company, and in 2017, TUI sold Travelopia, which included Sawadee Reizen, to KKR.

Thornton said the two companies aren't competitors. Intrepid does a small amount of business in the Netherlands, selling tours to Dutch travelers who prefer English-language tours. Sawadee's tours are in Dutch.

Merger Integration Challenges

Thornton said Intrepid has done about 10 acquisitions in its 35-year history. "Some of them have worked out well and some of them haven't, but we've gotten better at them over the course of time," he said.

(From left) Intrepid CEO James Thornton, Sawadee Managing Director Berend Simons, and Intrepid Managing Director EMEA Zina Bencheikh. Source Intrepid

The Intrepid Travel CEO said the plan is to keep the Sawadee Reizen brand — "for now" — and to learn more about the Dutch market, which he said is more price sensitive than Australia, the UK, and U.S.

"We'd be daft to go in and do any immediate changes," Thornton said. "But in saying that, Intrepid is a one business, one brand strategy. And at some point down the road, we'll evaluate it and see if it makes sense to make a change in the Netherlands."

There are no plans to trim the Sawadee worforce, Thornton said. It has a global team of around 180.

Sawadee Managing Director Berend Simons will continue to lead the Amsterdam-based brand, according to the Intrepid announcement. Simons will report to Intrepid Managing Director EMEA Zina Bencheikh.

"We're excited about the next part of the Sawadee journey and growing together," Simons said in a statement. "Our leading position in the Dutch market, coupled with Interpid's global expertise, means we will continue to deliver amazing trips for our customers and create impact for the communities we visit."

Intrepid has been a B Corp since 2018, and Sawadee will work toward that status, as well, the Intrepid announcement said.