Audley Travel

Last updated
Audley Travel Group Limited
FormerlyAsian Journeys
Type Private
IndustryTour Operator Activities
FoundedApril 25, 1996;26 years ago (1996-04-25) in Northampton, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom
Founder
  • Craig Burkinshaw
  • John Brewer
HeadquartersNew Mill, New Mill Lane,
Witney
,
United Kingdom
Number of locations
3 (2022)
Area served
Key people
  • Nick Longman (CEO)
  • Richard Prosser (Chairman)
  • David Philips (CFO)
  • Mark Hanson (MD for UK and Ireland)
  • Sonal Patel (General Council and CSO)
[1]
Revenue£216,000,000 (2018)
Total assets £59,753,000 (2018)
Owner 3i
Number of employees
762 (2023)
Website audleytravel.com

Audley Travel is a tour operator based in the UK in Witney, Oxfordshire, with offices in London and Boston. The company covers over 90 destinations worldwide, providing tailor-made travel. [2] According to the Financial Times , Audley is the largest operator in this market. [3]

Contents

History

Audley Travel was founded in a Northampton post office in 1996 by Craig Burkinshaw and John Brewer, both graduates of the London School of Economics. The pair originally offered tours of Vietnam, advertising in The Sunday Times . [4] [5]

In 2006, the company moved to its current headquarters at New Mill in Witney, Oxfordshire, and tourism executive Ian Simkins joined the company as CEO in 2011. [6]

In 2014, the company opened an office in London and a US office in Boston, Massachusetts after it discovered 20% of its web traffic was coming from the United States.

Audley arranges holidays in more than 90 destinations, covering all seven continents. Top-selling destinations include the USA, Canada, Japan, South Africa, India, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Vietnam and Costa Rica. [4] [7]

In 2012, equity firm Equistone Partners Europe invested a majority stake in Audley Travel during a management buyout. [8] Equistone exited its investment in 2015, selling its share of the company to private equity firm 3i. [9]

Awards

Awards won by Audley Travel include:

Charity and philanthropy

In January 2020, Audley was granted Travelife Partner status in recognition of its efforts to improve sustainability and corporate social responsibility. [30] Travelife is the leading international sustainability certification in the travel sector. [31]

In 2021, Audley introduced an Environmental, Social and Corporate Governance (ESG) framework that identifies five areas they will focus on each year. [30] These goals are often aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. [32]

The company created the Audley Travel for Good Fund to support several social and environmental charities around the world that align with its responsible travel approach. As of 2022, the company supports seven UN Sustainable Development Goals focused on supporting the communities and ecosystems clients and staff travel to. [33]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Simon Reeve (British TV presenter)</span> British author and television presenter (born 1972)

Simon Alan Reeve is a British author, journalist, adventurer, documentary filmmaker and television presenter. Reeve divides his home time between London and Devon. He makes global travel and environmental documentaries, and has written books on international terrorism, modern history, and his adventures. Amongst his many television programmes and series for the BBC, Reeve has presented Holidays in the Danger Zone: Places That Don't Exist, Tropic of Cancer, Equator and Tropic of Capricorn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jasper Conran</span> English fashion designer

Jasper Alexander Thirlby Conran is an English designer. He has worked on collections of womenswear and for the home, as well as productions for the stage in ballet, opera and theatre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kia Abdullah</span> British novelist and travel writer

Kia Abdullah is a British novelist and travel writer. She is the best-selling author of courtroom dramas Take It Back, Truth Be Told and Next of Kin, and has written for The New York Times, The Guardian, The Times,The Financial Times, The Telegraph and the BBC, among other publications.

Trailfinders is a British travel company in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

Kuoni Travel is a tourism company, operating various services including charter and scheduled passenger airlines, package holidays, cruise lines, and hotels in destinations around the world across nine different geographic regions.

Horatio Clare is an author known for travel, memoir, nature and children's books. He worked at the BBC as a producer on Front Row, Night Waves and The Verb.

Travel Trade Gazette, known as TTG, is a weekly newspaper for the travel industry.

Artisans of Leisure is a luxury travel company offering private cultural tours in international destinations. The company offers tours in 70 countries on six continents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ananda in the Himalayas</span> Building in Uttarakhand, India

Ananda in the Himalayas is a luxury destination spa in Narendra Nagar, Uttarakhand, set in the Indian Himalayas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Quark Expeditions</span>

Quark Expeditions is an expedition travel company. The company offers Polar Region expeditions aboard purpose-built expedition ships and icebreakers.

CV Villas is a London-based travel agency for villas in Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, Croatia, Turkey, Morocco, Florida, Sri Lanka and the Caribbean. Today, it is a specialist tour operator, selling villa holidays including flights, car hire and experiences directly to clients and through independent travel agents. The company has over 800 lodgings in the world.

Tauck is an operator of guided tours and cruises. The company is owned and operated by the Tauck family and is based in Wilton, Connecticut. Tauck offers more than 150 guided land journeys, small-ship ocean cruises, European river cruises, safaris and family travel experiences to more than 70 countries and all seven continents, and it has received numerous accolades.

Martin Fletcher is former associate editor and former foreign editor of The Times in London. He was named feature writer of the year in the 2015 British Press Awards.

Wanderlust is an independently owned UK travel magazine which focuses on cultural, and special interest travel. The print and digital magazine is published six times a year with the strap-line "taking the road less travelled".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newmarket Holidays</span> British tour operator based in Wallington, Surrey

Newmarket Holidays, part of The Newmarket Group, is a British tour operator based in Wallington, Surrey, providing escorted holidays, resort-based stays and event-based tours to destinations throughout the UK, in Europe and to worldwide destinations. The group employs 180 staff at its Surrey head office.

Scott Dunn is a luxury tour operator. The company, founded in 1986, has offices in London in the UK, San Diego in the USA and Singapore, and sells holidays worldwide.

Raileurope.co.uk is an online booking service for train travel in the United Kingdom and Europe. It sells tickets through its website and via its smartphone app which is available on iOS and Android platforms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Suitcase (magazine)</span>

Suitcase Magazine is a multimedia travel magazine, first published in 2012 by Serena Guen. The magazine is available as a quarterly print magazine, iPad and iPhone app, and a daily updated travel website.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Villa Holidays</span> UK based villa tour operator

James Villa Holidays is a villa tour operator, with a head office based in Maidstone in the UK. The business operates as part of the Awaze group - A holiday rentals business. The James Villas company has over 3000 properties, which are let out to customers who wish to use them as temporary holiday homes.

<i>Underland</i> (book) Book by Robert Macfarlane

Underland: A Deep Time Journey is a book by Robert Macfarlane and the sequel to The Old Ways: A Journey on Foot. Initially published in English on 2 May 2019 by Hamish Hamilton in the UK and on 4 June 2019 by W. W. Norton & Company in the US, the book has been translated into over a dozen languages. An audiobook, read by Matthew Waterson, was also released in June 2019 by HighBridge Audio.

References

  1. ↑ Audley Travel Group Limited, company number 03190720 Companies House
  2. ↑ Ltd, Jacobs Media Group. "Rising demand drives Audley Travel recruitment". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  3. ↑ Blackden, Richard (December 21, 2015). "3i bets on high-end tourism with Audley Travel". Financial Times .
  4. 1 2 Holgate, Ben (October 9, 2014). "Witney travel company becomes a global holidays specialist". The Herald series .
  5. ↑ "Audley Travel: Craig Burkinshaw". Startups.co.uk. October 3, 2013.
  6. ↑ "Travel firm books move to new base". Oxford Mail. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  7. ↑ "Audley Travel". TTG. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  8. ↑ "Equistone buys stake in Audley Travel". Travel Weekly.
  9. ↑ Ratcliffe, Madeline (21 December 2015). "3i hopes Audley Travel will take off with £159m investment". CityAM.
  10. ↑ "Travel Awards 2006 winners". The Guardian. October 7, 2006.
  11. ↑ "Company Profile - Audley Travel". Best Companies.
  12. ↑ Starmer-Smith, Guy (January 12, 2008). "Green travel: the winners and losers".
  13. ↑ "Travel Awards 2008 winners". The Guardian. October 12, 2008.
  14. ↑ (1 Sept, 2010) Readers’ Travel Awards 2010. Conde Nast Traveller.
  15. ↑ Magazine, Sunday Times Travel. "The Value for Money awards: Sunday Times Travel Magazine". ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  16. ↑ "Wanderlust Travel Awards 2011: Winners Announced". Wanderlust Magazine. Archived from the original on August 25, 2017.
  17. ↑ "Wanderlust Travel Awards 2022: The Results". Wanderlust Magazine.
  18. ↑ "Telegraph Travel Awards 2013: The winners in full". The Daily Telegraph. November 27, 2013.
  19. ↑ "Travel Awards 2014 winners". The Guardian. November 22, 2014.
  20. ↑ Quail, Alex (June 26, 2014). "Oxfordshire Business Awards 2014". zestdigital.com. Archived from the original on August 25, 2017.
  21. ↑ "The Times and Sunday Times Travel Awards 2016". The Times. September 17, 2016.
  22. ↑ "Telegraph Travel Awards: your favourite airlines, hotel groups, tour operators and destinations". The Telegraph. April 12, 2016.
  23. ↑ Magazine, Sunday Times Travel. "The Value for Money awards: Sunday Times Travel Magazine". ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  24. ↑ Travel Media Awards 2019. The Travel Media Awards.
  25. ↑ Travel Media Awards 2020 winners. The Travel Media Awards.
  26. ↑ Times, The Sunday. "Winners announced in the Times and Sunday Times Travel Awards 2020". ISSN   0140-0460 . Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  27. ↑ "The best tour operators in the world: 2022 Readers' Choice Awards". CN Traveller. 2020-11-16. Retrieved 2022-12-06.
  28. ↑ "Best and worst smaller/independent holiday providers". Which?. December 22, 2022.
  29. ↑ "WTM 2022: Responsible Champions Rewarded". TTG.
  30. 1 2 Ltd, Travel Weekly Group. "Audley Travel reports it is making strides..." Travolution. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  31. ↑ "Travelife for Tour Operators and Travel Agents". www.travelife.info. Retrieved 2020-01-30.
  32. ↑ "THE 17 GOALS | Sustainable Development". sdgs.un.org. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
  33. ↑ Ltd, Jacobs Media Group. "Audley Travel makes 'strong progress' on sustainability". Travel Weekly. Retrieved 2022-11-30.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.