Recently formed Active Travel Group, which comprises Ski Solutions and inbound operator Wilderness Scotland, is seeking more acquisitions.
Ski Solutions supported the management buyout of the Highlands-based adventure operator in September. The deal came after the winter sports operator secured £3million funding from existing investor, Mobeus.
Wilderness Scotland and sister brand Wilderness Ireland formed Active Travel Group alongside Ski Solutions and outbound cycle and walking operators BSpoke and Cycling for Softies.
Chief executive Craig Burton said the business was looking to add more brands specialising in niche, “human powered” holidays, with hiking breaks expected to be a particular focus.
Burton said: “The investment from Mobeus will allow us to grow our customer base and also look for others brands that share our ethos that we can bring into the Active Travel Group, brands that offer people the opportunity to experience something different and are all about human powered movement. Walking is an obvious gap.
“We felt Wilderness Scotland was quite a nice fit for us, it gives us more of a winter summer balance and, because it’s inbound, a currency hedge. Plus, we fundamentally liked the people. It’s a great endorsement that they are seen as the specialist operator for Scotland. Their strength is that they are taking people to really remote areas like the Outer Hebrides. They are doing things that are not Googleable.”
Wilderness Scotland carries around 3,000 to 4,000 customers a year, primarily from the US, with average selling prices of £2,500 per person.
Burton said it is a top end operator and he hopes to grow the Wilderness Ireland division and introduce it to other source markets, including Germany.
Chairman of Active Holiday Group John Wimbleton, who was brought in by Mobeus, believes the holidays could appeal to Brits and be sold through agents.
“There is certainly a market for what we are doing in Scotland and Ireland for the trade which is not being served at the moment,” he said. “It’s clearly something that the trade in the US sells really well so why can’t we do it from a UK trade perspective? What the trade does really well is tailor made. If they have someone in front of them who wants to do something unique they can do something entirely bespoke with this product.”
The Active Holiday Group will not produce any brochures but there is a trade section of its website and it offers competitive rates of commission. “There’s enough margin for us to be very comfortable supporting agency distribution,” added Burton.
Wimbleton said: “We are out there looking for opportunities to bring other brands into the group. We think there are opportunities, particularly in ski. With what we see in terms of the changes to do with Brexit, costs in the chalet sector are rising and we are seeing a decline in capacity. It’s a small niche, but there is definitely opportunity there.”
Burton said it was important that as the group grows it achieves synergies where sensible in back office functions like finance, marketing and buying but that it retains customer facing product expertise in its sales team so it is able to match client expectations, whether that’s for a pre-packaged trip or something tailor made.
Wimbleton said Mobeus “understands what a really good specialist business looks like” and is fully behind the group’s vision to grow through acquisition as well as organically.
Active Travel Group will turnover £25 million this year and take 20,000 people on ski and adventure holidays.