The PEAK Adventure Travel Group is being dissolved after Intrepid Travel announced an end to its four-year partnership with the TUI Group.
Revealed this morning, Intrepid Travel co-founders Darrell Wade and Geoff Manchester will take back full ownership of the original adventure travel brand and focus ‘on 100 percent privately owning the Intrepid Group business’.
Under the new agreement, the PEAK name will remain with the destination management company brand – ‘PEAK DMC’.
Darrell Wade will continue as CEO alongside James Thornton, the first Managing Director of the Intrepid Group.
Geoff Manchester, Darrell Wade and James Thornton.
The two will manage the group’s brands, which include 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).
Intrepid founders take back control of the company they founded in 1989.
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.
PEAK’s former CEO, Darrell Wade said while the formation of PEAK served the brands will at the time the company now has ‘different priorities and business philosophies’.
“We’ve been observing emerging trends across the adventure travel sector globally, and now we can work quickly with our destination management companies and industry partners to grow the market for authentic local experiences that truly benefit both travellers and the places they visit.”
Darrell Wade, PEAK former CEO
Darrell Wade said Intrepid now has different ‘priorities and philosophies’.
Hans Lagerweij added that looking at the way people enjoy adventure travel it has become ‘apparent’ that the two brands are offer ‘increasingly different styles’ and ‘the appetite for more unique, higher-end and active experiences will only increase over the coming years’.
“In order to best serve these markets and remain leaders within our fields we believe it is the right time to divide PEAK’s brands to concentrate on the adventure traveller’s changing needs.”
Hans Lagerweij, Adventure Specialist Division MD
Intrepid said it will continue to work closely with TUI in a number of areas to ensure everything continues to operate smoothly.
The announcement comes a few days after Flight Centre removed G Adventures from its ‘preferred’ list to focus on a single preferred partner – PEAK.