Intrepid Travel more than doubles fam trips as trade sales surge

Intrepid Travel is ramping up its fam trip programme for 2026 to capitalise on strong trade sales momentum and a record peaks period.

 

Carrie Grant, UK and Ireland head of industry partnerships, said January sales had been “incredible”.

 

“We were 20% up across the board, but agent business was over 40% up; it completely outperformed,” she told Travel Weekly.

 

“It was our best month on record, and we had seven of the top 10 days of all time.

 

“It was a really positive start to the year.

 

“Since September, each month has been in our top-10 months of all time.

 

“There is real growing momentum there, which has been really exciting to see, and that is all driven by our agent partnerships.”

 

Grant attributed much of January’s success to a ‘prep for peaks’ campaign in December and a ‘sell three’ incentive running in January and February.

 

More: Intrepid Travel signs Safer Tourism Foundation pledge

 

If agents sell any three trips, they earn a free Intrepid holiday; if they sell eight, they take a mate as well.

 

“That has proved so popular. When people can experience it as their own holiday, it is really powerful,” she said.

 

“We run incentives all year, but our ’sell three’ one in January gives us the best cut-through.”

 

She said the adventure travel specialist saw a “strong” 2025, mostly driven by momentum in the second half of the year.

 

Trade sales were 28% up on 2024 and currently comprise about 40% of the company’s business.

 

She was promoted to her role in June 2025 and is part of a six-strong trade team, with fam trips seen as a core strategy.

 

More than 350 agents will travel on Intrepid fam trips this year, to long-haul destinations such as Peru, Borneo, China and Uzbekistan plus short-haul options in Spain, Morocco and London.

 

“Coming into the role, I wanted to make sure we were the standout supplier for immersive agent training – using experiences to educate,” she said.

 

“When you see it and feel it, you get that understanding of what it means. That is my strategy for this year.”

 

She said traditional visits to shops are “not necessarily the best use of time or the most sustainable way”.

 

“Our idea is to get more people together and to experience Intrepid so they can explain it to their customers, showcase what it means, and get an in-depth understanding of what makes Intrepid different."

 

She said the 350+ fam places are “well over double” last year and “probably treble” previous years.

 

Highlights include China – where Intrepid has been seeing growth, especially since the announcement about visa-free travel – and Japan, where demand has been “phenomenal”.

 

“We have also seen a halo effect in that whole area; South Korea and Asia in general are doing incredibly well for us,” she said.

 

“We’ve definitely seen a little bit of a drop-off in the US, but we’ve got so much product, it doesn’t necessarily have an impact – we’ve got great product in South and Central America.

 

“Geopolitical situations always have an impact on travel. We see that with the Middle East, which is now thriving again, Egypt and Jordan sales were in our top 10 for January.

 

“Egypt and Jordan are showing growth again, which is a really good news story.

 

“There will always be ebbs and flows, and that is what makes travel and the travel industry so resilient. We can shift capacity and demand where needed.”