Adventure tour operator G Adventures has acquired
small-group youth travel specialist TruTravels.
The U.K.-based company specializes in Southeast Asia,
hosting trips to Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Philippines and
Indonesia. Its customers are mainly young travelers ages 18 to 25.
Joe Fallon and Mark Pope, who founded the company in 2012,
will continue to run TruTravels as partners and minority shareholders. G
Adventures founder and owner Bruce Poon Tip views TruTravels as a "complementary
business."
"I want to emphasize that Joe and Mark are doing an
incredible job within this niche of youthful and fun-focused travel, which is
rooted in meeting new people and driven by social media," Poon Tip said in
a statement. "I have no desire to change what they're doing. Instead, our
aim is to give TruTravels a boost so they can do even more for young millennial
and Gen Z travelers who are eager to experience the world together and make a
difference."
Pope said it was "truly exciting to be partnering with
the most established and experienced operator in our space."
TruTravels has 25 employees in southwest London plus 40 tour
guides across Asia. With the G Adventures acquisition, TruTravels now plans to
expand its sales team. G Adventures will support TruTravels in extending its
supply chain access, as well as with shared resourcing in technology, talent
acquisition and finance.