Portman Travel Group has acquired Inspiresport Limited, a leading sports development tour operator.
Inspiresport tours in the UK and Europe offer coaching at professional clubs and federations for youngsters of all abilities.
A statement from Portman said the deal will “further establish Portman Travel Group’s expansion into the sports travel market following the successful launches in 2019 of Clarity Sports, which provides its best-in-class team and business travel services for professional clubs across a range of sports, and Sportsbreaks.com, the sports travel experience operator aimed at fans and consumers”.
Pat McDonagh, chief executive of Clarity Travel, said: “Inspiresport has been a business that we have admired for a long time and helps us build a very strong portfolio of offerings in this bespoke market.
“We look forward to continuing the excellent work they have done over the years by progressing with partners, customers and colleagues and expanding the business moving forward.”
Steve Butchart, current chief executive of Inspiresport, will join Rob Slawson, sports travel director at Clarity.
Butchart commented: “The team and I are very excited at the next phase of expansion of Inspiresport under new ownership, which will both further enhance our position as market leaders in the school and club sports tour sector and accelerate our future development plans by opening up new partners and new sports to add to our current impressive portfolio.
“Inspiresport has grown significantly over the last decade and, whilst the last year has been particularly challenging for the travel industry, to be able to complete this deal is testament to the underlying strength of the business and the hard work of all the team.
“We look forward to working with Rob and the rest of the team to complement the other activities within the business, and to continue to deliver the best-in-class sports development tours which Inspiresport is known for.”