TUI Travel has signed a deal to buy Adventure Tours Australia for an undisclosed sum.
ATA operates small group escorted adventure tours throughout Australia and includes the brands Wayward Bus, Oz Experience and Wilderness Adventures.
Chief executive Ken Hart and marketing director Greg Zammit will remain with the company to grow the business and manage its integration with TUI Travel’s existing small group tour operators in Australia. These are OzXposure, WesternXposure, Planet Perth and Australian Pinnacle Tours.
ATA will fall under TUI Travel’s TrekAmerica/ OzXposure Group, part of the group’s activity sector, headed up by John Wimbleton.
TrekAmerica/OzEposure Group managing director Martyn Shapter said: “We are delighted to be joining forces with such a successful and respected company as Adventure Tours Australia. ATA complements our existing Australian businesses and together we have a leading position in the Australian small group escorted tours market.”
Following the company’s acquisition of Pinnacle Tours in February last year, TUI Travel activity sector managing director John Wimbleton told Travel Weekly Australia that TUI was looking for market leading brands in Australia and did not plan to impose a corporate culture on new businesses.