He adds that Kiwis have been a contributor to the figures, with New Zealand inbound to Australia reaching records this year.
‘A couple of years ago we set a strategy to build the numbers on our Australian tours, so it’s good to see that coming to fruition.’
Mitchell says Intrepid saw a particularly strong summer season for Tasmania. Over the winter months, bookings show that Northern Territory is number one on New Zealanders’ list, with Uluru being the hero attraction. Next is the Kimberley region.
He adds that walking tours are a driving force for the company’s growth in Australia. ‘We’ve just acquired Wsild Bush Luxury, which has two amazing walking products and we’re now the second largest guided walking tour company in Australia.’
Mitchell attended the Australian Tourism Exchange this week and the company used ATE as a platform to launch its Stay Intrepid brand, focusing on accommodation.
‘We have launched with five properties in Australia and want to increase that to 25. It will be a global brand and we already have a property in Marrakesh and one in Vietnam. But really we want to prove the model in Australia first and then scale up globally.’
