One of the United Kingdom’s major travel groups, TUI Travel PLC, announced today that they were joining forces with Australia’s Intrepid Travel. The two hope that combining their existing operations will put them in a position of global leaders in the adventure travel industry.

TUI Travel is set to own 60% of the brand new venture, with Intrepid Travel taking ownership of the remaining 40%. Both companies have aired their predictions that the merger will save both companies £10 million ($16 million) per year over the first three years of the operation.

TUI Travel currently manages an extensive portfolio of adventure travel businesses across the Northern Hemisphere and in the UK. The group suffered large profit losses due to severe weather and the Icelandic volcano eruption closing much of Europe’s airspace for periods of 2010. Regardless, it caters to 30 million holiday-makers a year and runs its own European airline. In comparison, Intrepid Travel, which was established in 1989, serves over 100,000 customers per year.

Revenues are expected to be £255 million and the merged group will incorporate 20 separate brands including Adventure Center, Country Walkers, Gecko’s Adventures and Imaginative Traveller.

Intrepid’s chief executive and co-founder, Darrell Wade, has been named as CEO of the joint venture (which itself will operate under the name Peak). The company aims to dominate the adventure holiday market - Adventure holidays, which incorporates anything from country walking, hiking in Nepal and yoga holidays, yield higher profit margins than conventional package holidays. While packages might only generate a profit margin of 3-5%, adventure holidays generate profits of around 10%, according to a TUI spokeswoman.

Reported by Sam Doving.

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