Inside Travel Group hosts 150 people to celebrate 25th anniversary

Inside Travel Group (ITG), parent of specialists InsideJapan and InsideAsia, hosted 150 people at an event in Bristol to celebrate its 25th anniversary.

The gathering last night (Thursday, October 2) brought together employees, travel industry professionals, loyal customers, family and friends at The Mount Without on St Michael’s Hill.

Performances from a Japanese taiko drumming group and a curry feast were arranged as a nod to the destinations the operator serves.

 

The specialist now has programmes in 11 destinations, with India being the latest to be added this year.

 

ITG has four offices and 290 staff around the world, with its headquarters in Bristol and teams in Boulder in the US, Brisbane in Australia and Nagoya in Japan.

 

Previously, co-founders Simon King and Alastair Donnelly said they planned a rebrand and to treble business revenue within the next five years.

 

Speaking on stage at the event, they paid tribute to their families and customers and thanked industry bodies – including Aito and travel partners – for their support, especially through the pandemic.

 

King said they set up the business together in a spare room of Donnelly’s family home in 2000, following three years of teaching English in Japan.

 

He added: “We set up the business to share amazing experiences that we had had with as many people as possible, and that is still what drives us today.

 

“We started small, but we believe in travel and want to build a global cultural adventure travel company, so watch this space for more to come.”

 

Donnelly added: “The thing is, sometimes people think scale and growing a big business is a bad thing, but we think it is a really good thing.

 

“The bigger we get, the bigger the positive impact we can have.”