When you can’t beat ’em, join ’em, or do what G Adventures did & buy ’em! That’s actually what the operator did when it realised it couldn’t compete with a fellow brand.
The adventure company announced this morning that it had acquired TruTravels, a small group youth travel specialist that has a similar ethos to G Adventures but a completely different travel style.
G Adventures’ Founder, Bruce Poon Tip, said after looking into the UK-based business he found that he couldn’t compete with the way TruTravels communicates with young people and the types of tours it offers.
So, he decided to sit down with its owners Joe Fallon and Mark Pope, and come up with a plan that’d allow G Adventures to take over the brand without changing its leadership or unique approach.
The plan will see Fallon and Pope continue to run the company as partners and hold minority shares. They’ll also keep TruTravels ‘tru’ to its own brand identity and style.
“We don’t want to change what TruTravels does,” Poon Tip explained.
“Joe and Mark are doing an incredible job in this space with this new style of fun-focussed travel which is rooted in meeting new people and driven by social media influences.”
“Our aim is to give them a boost so they can do more of what they already do so well, and we welcome them to the G Adventures family of brands as a complementary business.”
Bruce Poon Tip, G Adventures Founder
Fallon and Pope said they’re excited about the acquisition because it’ll allow them to expand the business into a global brand faster and more efficiently, starting with new additions to the sales team.
“While there are clear differences in the style of trips TruTravels runs, and the travellers we attract, the similarities we have with G Adventures are how we knew they were the right partners for us.”
Joe Fallon, TruTravels Co-Founder
“Both brands’ sales are dominated by travel agency sales, and both attract travellers from a number of different countries.”
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