The Avventura Group has acquired Uttoxeter-based travel agency, Journeys à la Carte, for an undisclosed sum.
The transaction was completed over the Christmas period and Margaret May, who founded Journeys à la Carte in 1995, will now retire.
One of Uttoxeter’s best known and well-established travel agencies, it has won many major awards, including The UK’s Best Travel Agency with The Guardian and The Observer.
Avventura Group – which also owns Avventura Travels, a luxury tour operator based in Northamptonshire – was launched in June 2019 and offers tailor-made itineraries for upmarket adventure tours.
Richard Hadfield, Avventura Travels chief executive, said: “For some time we have been looking at acquiring a retail operation and Journeys à la Carte met all our criteria.
“It’s a perfect strategic fit in terms of its customer profile and staff capability with our existing business operations.
“Journeys à la Carte is an exceptional travel agency business with a loyal client base and a strong reputation for delivering great customer service.
“We are delighted that Margaret May has agreed to sell the business to us and that she will continue to be available to us with her local knowledge and expertise in order for us to achieve a seamless ownership transition. We wish her a happy and well-earned retirement.”
May said: “Journeys à la Carte has been a huge part of my life for over 25 years, and I am enormously proud of its success – success due to the amazing, incredible Journeys team, our wonderful clients, the tour operators we work with, along with AITO and TTA [Travel Trust Association] who have always been there to help steer the way.
“I am now retiring, delighted in the knowledge that Richard will carry Journeys and the team forward to a happy, secure future.”
A new holding company, Avventura Group, has recently been established which will own Avventura Travels and Journeys à la Carte plus any other businesses that may be acquired in the future.
Journeys à la Carte will continue to work with its current suppliers and business partners as well as act as a distribution partner for Avventura product.
The Journeys à la Carte team will remain working at the agency under Avventura Group’s ownership.
Hadfield added: “The team has been very supportive of our acquisition, and it’s good to be able to give them employment certainty in these challenging times.
“We also have very exciting plans to strengthen and grow the business through making investment in its IT systems and marketing.
As well as being a TTA member, Journeys à la Carte is an AITO Specialist Agency.
Hadfield has held senior positions with several of the largest travel companies in the UK including Abercrombie & Kent and Thomas Cook.
Pictured: Hadfield and the team at Journeys à la Carte.