Uk Adventure Holidays

Holidaybreak plc (LSE: HBR) is an operator of specialist holiday businesses in the UK. Its activities include the provision of hotel short-breaks across the UK and the continent, camping holidays, mobile homes on campsites throughout Europe and worldwide adventure and activity holidays. All of the group's companies retain a distinctive identity each specialising in a distinct area of the holiday market.

Company history

Holidaybreak plc was founded in 1973 as Eurocamp Travel Limited - a family run business, based in Knutsford, Cheshire, offering camping holidays in Britain. From modest beginnings the business grew steadily benefiting from the growing interest in France as a holiday destination. In the early eighties mobile homes and destinations outside France were added to the product range.

Ownership of the business changed in 1981, with the founder Alan Goulding selling to the London based retail group Combined English Stores plc. Alan Goulding finally left the company in 1983 when Richard Atkinson, the former Chief Executive, became Managing Director. The 1980s saw product developments including the introduction of a wider range of destinations both inside and outside France, development of services for children and opening up camp sites for overnight stops. However the company continued to employ mainly student staff on a basic wage.

In 1998, after 25 years in Knutsford, the Camping and Group head offices were relocated to Hartford, near Northwich, Cheshire. The company also decided to change the holding company name from Eurocamp plc to Holidaybreak plc to better reflect the aspirations and range of activities of the Group.

On 5 September 2005, Carl Michel took over as Group Chief Executive. Carl Michel brought with him his travel industry experience from British Airways and Opodo.

On the 12th June 2007 Holidaybreak announced that it had purchased the PGL Travel Group, the leading provider of Youth-orientated Adventure and Education holidays in the UK. From this, PGL will become the first brand within Holidaybreak's 'Education' division.

On the 1st October 2007 Holidaybreak signed a deal that brought the NST Travel Group into the Education Division of Holidaybreak alongside PGL. NST can trace it’s Company history back over 40 years to it’s beginnings in 1967. Today the Company employs over 240 full time staff and 135 seasonal staff. NST has offices in Blackpool, Cambridge and Dublin

Brands and Product Portfolio

Holidaybreak is composed of four divisions:

• Hotel Breaks
• Adventure Travel
• Camping
• Education

Hotel breaks division

Superbreak

Superbreak is an online hotel directory for some 1,800 hotels in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (including some 200 in London). Special features include the Airport Hotels search and live Theatrebreak bookings. Superbreak offers hotels ranging basic to deluxe five star hotels. In 2001 an accommodation only European Cities programme was launched, which now features some 800 hotels in all the main city break destinations.

Hotelnet

Hotelnet is a hotel finder service for reservations in UK hotels, Europe and Worldwide. The directory includes some 40,000 hotels in towns and cities across the world including hotels in London, Paris and Prague.

Other hotel breaks brands

The Hotel breaks division also contains:

• West End Theatre Bookings is a London theatre ticket agent
• The Luxury Hotel Collection provides hotels in the United Kingdom
• Bungalows.nl provides self-catering accommodation on leisure parks primarily in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany
• Weekendjeweg.nl and Nachtjeweg.nl both provide hotel accommodation primarily in the Netherlands, Belgium and Germany
• Hotelletje.nl is a collection of small, independent hotels

Adventure travel division

Explore

Explore Worldwide is an Adventure tour operator providing small group holidays worldwide. Tours consist of between 12 to 24 people with a tour guide, following an itinerary from destination to destination within a geographical area. Most Explore tours have activities within them from the adventurous such as kayaking to the more sedate, for example relaxing on the deck of a small cruise ship. Accommodation and transport varies from tour to tour and can be anything from 3* hotels, to troglodyte caves, camping or even sleeping under the stars. Explore also offer cycling tours, railway journeys, small groups cruises and family holidays in similar style. Explore passionately believe in responsible tourism and have recently introduced carbon offsetting of flights within tour prices.

Other adventure travel brands

The Adventure travel division also contains:

• Djoser offers escorted tours in 85 countries worldwide
• Regaldive is a specialist provider of scuba diving holidays
• carpe diem Sprachreisen provides English and other language holidays
• TravelWorks offers working holidays and gap-year breaks to students

Camping division

Eurocamp

Eurocamp provides self-catering holidays to Europe, holidays catering for families and couples in over 150 Holiday Parcs in fourteen countries and islands. Locations range from beaches, lakes, mountains or remote rural resorts. Accommodation is provided in spacious Mobile Homes, Tents or Chalets.

Eurocamp Independent is a specialist campsite reservation service offered to UK customers with their own caravan, trailer tent, motor-home or tent.

Keycamp

Keycamp , the UK's leading mobile home holiday company, provides good quality camping holidays to Europe. The holidays cater for families and couples in over 100 Holiday Parcs across Europe, such as France, Spain, Italy, Croatia, Switzerland, Austria, Portugal, Slovenia and the Netherlands. Accommodation is provided in spacious Mobile Homes, Chalets and tents and can cater for up to 8 people per accommodation. A wide variety of travel options can also be included ranging from "self drive" (ferry), to "fly drive" and more recently "rail drive".

Keycamp Holidays recently won the prestigious "Best Tour Operator to France" and Best Mobile Home and Camping Operator" at the British Travel Awards 2006.

Other camping brands

The Adventure travel division also contains:

• Easycamp operates in Holland, Belgium, Germany and Denmark. It provides holidays in camp-site owned mobile homes.
• Own a Holiday Home offers UK customers the opportunity to purchase holiday homes in France
• Select Sites is a specialist campsite reservation service offered to UK customers with their own caravan, trailer tent, motor-home or tent.

Education division

The Education division contains:

• PGL - offering outdoor adventure courses, subject specific courses, overseas tours and ski trips to UK schools. PGL also operate summer camps, children's adventure holidays and family activity holidays in the UK and France.
• NST - a provider of group travel to schools and colleges throughout the UK.

Financial and corporate overview

Publicly quoted as HBR.L, 2004 saw the Group provide 2.3m holidays in over 100 countries worldwide. The business generates substantial cash, delivers double-digit margins and has proven resilient in the face of changing market conditions. Holidaybreak’s businesses are actively managed to maximise yields and to optimise distribution, increasingly through the internet which accounts for approximately 20% of sales and is continuing to grow strongly.

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