December 11, 2025 • 8 mins
After surviving the shutdowns and uncertainty of the pandemic, Intrepid Travel has bounced back to post the biggest trading month in its 36-year history. CEO James Thornton joins Sean Aylmer to explain why Australians are travelling more than ever, the destinations dominating demand, and how Intrepid grew from a kitchen-table startup into a global adventure-travel powerhouse.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Welcome to Fear and Greed Q and A where we
ask and answer questions about business, investing, economics, politics and more.
I'm Sean Almer. Australians are traveling again. The travel industry
has bounced back after COVID and in some cases demand
is stronger than ever. I'm talking today to James Thornton,
the CEO of Intrepid Travel. In Trepid has just recorded
its biggest trading month in its thirty six year history.
(00:29):
He joins me in the studio, James, Welcome to Fear
and Greed Q and A grade too.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Rely, Sean, your.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Best trading month in thirty six times twelve. However, me,
that is a lot.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Why why Australians are desperate to geta and travel At
the moment, Sean, it seems more and more they want
experiences and they want to buy from and increasingly workforce
companies that have true sustainability credentials.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
And Trebor's got a great long thirty six year history
of both. So demand for travel is back and people
are getting out there and seeing the world again.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Okay, so it's about seeing the world again than domestic.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, very much so. Domestic obviously came out of the
pandemic and boomed pretty quickly. In fact, still fifty percent
of Australian travelers do travel domestically, but that demand for
international travel is definitely back. People are heading to all
kinds of far flung wonderful places. The Vietnams, the Japans,
the Indias, the Perus.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Are they the popular places that you've just mentioned there.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
VI and RM Morocco number one and number two for
Australian travelers with intrepid absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Right out and who's traveling and in one of the
age groups.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, so the key age groups are really threefold. So
first up of university educated single female in her mid
forties who has a professional job but limited free time
to get out and see the world in the safety.
And the second one is the baby boomer fifty sixties,
kids have left home, mortgages paid off, bit more free time,
don't want to get on the big coach tour, want
(01:49):
to have an immersive experience again, bit of structure in
that group environment. And the third one is the first
time traveler. Then maybe home ownership is a little bit
out of reach. They want to get out, have a
great experience. They're really value those kind of local, immersive
experiences and want to share them with their friends on
social media. So they are the three types of groups
that they're traveling.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I get the young ones, I get the older ones,
the forty something year old females. Is that a new category?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
There always been the main category for an intrepid traveler,
But really it's the two ends of the spectrum that
have grown perhaps more quickly than ever before, particularly the
slightly older clientele. That's where we're seeing the fastest amount
of growth right now.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Okay, so Intrepid itself, give me that story. I mean
off here, I was just saying, you know, twenty years ago,
I used to watch Intrepid because it always amazed me
that you had a role in you know, twenty years on,
thirty six years on, your actually main player in the
Australian industry. So just give me the rundown very quickly.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Super quick. Thirty six years ago, two university friends from
Melbourne UNI traveling through Africa together on a converted tip
har truck and realized that there was a potential style
of travel where you didn't travel on the organized coach tour,
but equally you didn't travel using the lonely planet on
rough guide and whilst there a way you could put
the two together, so the organized structure of the group
touring environment, but also the freedom and flexibility around using
(03:07):
a local guidebook and effectively that's how they started. One
of them went to Thailand researched the first itinery. One
of them stayed in Melbourne on his kitchen table and
did sales and marketing and trying to put it at
a value based proposition, about fifty dollars a day. In
their first year of operation, they carried a whopping forty
seven people to Thailand. We think that was their family
and friends. Since then, fortune we've grown a bit, obviously
(03:28):
geographical dispersion, different types of products, to the point where
this year in Trappid will carry more than three hundred
thousand customers to over one hundred and fourteen countries all
around the world.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Wow. In mass those three hundred thousand are Australian or no.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
So about forty five percent of Australians are still our
largest part of the market, but were actually fastest growing
in the Northern Hemisphere now in the UK and also
in the United States. So in tributes to become a
real global name now and I think it's real testament
to the fact that you've got an Australian's success story
that has kind of gone global.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So how do you cut through the noise? So I
would get an I kind of as Michael, my co host,
fear and greed complaints all the time. I tend to
travel a lot and I am loyal to be honest
to my travel partners. How do you cut through the
noise when there's four or five groups that come to me,
you being one of them all the time, and I
am price conscious but not ultra price conscious, how do
(04:19):
you kind of hit your mark?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I think we want to provide a value based proposition
where people going to have an amazing experience, But we're
also trying to get awareness for our SOLA travel out there.
People still to this day don't quite understand what does
it mean to go on a small group, what does
it mean to have an immersive experience? So we're trying
to do a little bit of education. We're trying to
get the brand out there with a bit more out
of home advertising, a little bit of sports sponsorship that
(04:41):
we're starting to move into now, and then when we
get people into the funnel, we get the awareness there
we then work very hard to make sure that we
convert them. We're also starting to expand our niche a
little bit into investments into accommodation. Intrepid recently brought wild
Bush Luxury, which has Akaburu and Bamaru Plains, Northern Territory,
Riah Island Walk. We've got the Dangery Eco Lodge, So
(05:02):
really starting to expand that kind of breadth of product
a bit to make it a little bit more mainstream
in people's awareness.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It's kind of like the EE anti EBNV theory here.
Airbnb have gone from a combination to experiences and in
a sense you're as much an experienced travel company. Is
the future about that sort of integration. I suppose it's
horizontal integration across the industry.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, I think there's some vertical integration that will go on,
But ultimately, at the moment our form of experiences, it's
just about getting people aware that this type of immersive,
small group experience is out there, that you don't have
to travel on a big coach tour. You don't still
have to do it independently. So many ways, it's still
the same message from thirty six years ago. You can
go and have a great value experience. Travel through a destination,
try the food, meet the people, travel with some like
(05:49):
minded travelers and have a wonderful experience over seven or
ten days. And that's alsomly what we're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
How many times do you travel yourself?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I spent about seventy percent of the year away from
sunny Melbourne, so a lot of time on planes. It's
probably two hundred days a year, so very lucky, but
also looking forward to a nice Christmas break.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Okay, final question, but it's an important one. What's a
good deal in travel? Because I can go and get
a good deal. The headline price is good, but then
of course when you're traveling matters, and then there's always
extras in terms of flights and baggage and all that
sort of priority. There seems to be a lot of extras.
(06:30):
How do I judge when it's a good deal.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I think it's about balancing the value based proposition with
also the experience you're going to get. You know, we
know when you're traveling in Europe, for example, that you
can go and buy your Ryan Air flight for forty dollars,
but you've got to pay for your bag you've got
to pay for your seat, You've sometimes got to pay
for your boarding pass, heaven forbid. So I think it's
always about making sure that as customers we check out
what those additional extras are and sometimes where we might
(06:55):
see a product that's slightly more expensive, often it can
be better value and better experience. So I always say,
in travel, you tend to get what you pay for,
So yeah, look out for those hidden extras that are there.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Can you actually work those out? Because I totally I
mean I was in Europe during the year I used
Ryan Air, but Ryan Air was fantastic so long as
you didn't have any luggage, so long as you could
get an exit row seat, because suddenly you got somewhere
to put you. You've got priority boarding and all this
sort of stuff. But otherwise it was a fight, you know,
and like it wasn't an enjoyable experience at all. How
(07:26):
do you work all that stuff out?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Or two ways, One you've got to be very organized,
or two you've got to speak to a travel professional.
And still here in Australia there are amazing travel professionals
who are there and have great responsibilities to be able
to provide you with all the solutions to take the
hustle out of it for you. So go and see
a travel professional and I'm sure they'll take care of you.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Where's your next trip to.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
My next trip is going to be the Mornington Peninsula
on which might sound a little bit boring for listeners,
but I just want to stay home for a little
bit of time over summer, and then in March, very excitingly,
I'm heading to Central Asia to as Bekistan. We're Intrepid
is opening our thirty second office. Lots of demand to
Central Asia right now to go and see the stance.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Fantastic, James, thank you for talking to Fear and Greed.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Great to be with you, Sean.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
That was James Thornton, CEO of Intrepid Travel. I'm Sean
Almer and this is Fear and Greed Q and a
Welcome to Fear and Greed Q and A where we
ask and answer questions about business, investing, economics, politics and more.
I'm Sean Almer. Australians are traveling again. The travel industry
has bounced back after COVID and in some cases demand
is stronger than ever. I'm talking today to James Thornton,
the CEO of Intrepid Travel. In Trepid has just recorded
its biggest trading month in its thirty six year history.
(00:29):
He joins me in the studio, James, Welcome to Fear
and Greed Q and A grade too.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
Rely, Sean, your.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Best trading month in thirty six times twelve. However, me,
that is a lot.
Speaker 3 (00:39):
Why why Australians are desperate to geta and travel At
the moment, Sean, it seems more and more they want
experiences and they want to buy from and increasingly workforce
companies that have true sustainability credentials.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
And Trebor's got a great long thirty six year history
of both. So demand for travel is back and people
are getting out there and seeing the world again.
Speaker 1 (00:57):
Okay, so it's about seeing the world again than domestic.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Yeah, very much so. Domestic obviously came out of the
pandemic and boomed pretty quickly. In fact, still fifty percent
of Australian travelers do travel domestically, but that demand for
international travel is definitely back. People are heading to all
kinds of far flung wonderful places. The Vietnams, the Japans,
the Indias, the Perus.
Speaker 1 (01:19):
Are they the popular places that you've just mentioned there.
Speaker 2 (01:21):
VI and RM Morocco number one and number two for
Australian travelers with intrepid absolutely.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Right out and who's traveling and in one of the
age groups.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, so the key age groups are really threefold. So
first up of university educated single female in her mid
forties who has a professional job but limited free time
to get out and see the world in the safety.
And the second one is the baby boomer fifty sixties,
kids have left home, mortgages paid off, bit more free time,
don't want to get on the big coach tour, want
(01:49):
to have an immersive experience again, bit of structure in
that group environment. And the third one is the first
time traveler. Then maybe home ownership is a little bit
out of reach. They want to get out, have a
great experience. They're really value those kind of local, immersive
experiences and want to share them with their friends on
social media. So they are the three types of groups
that they're traveling.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
I get the young ones, I get the older ones,
the forty something year old females. Is that a new category?
Speaker 2 (02:13):
There always been the main category for an intrepid traveler,
But really it's the two ends of the spectrum that
have grown perhaps more quickly than ever before, particularly the
slightly older clientele. That's where we're seeing the fastest amount
of growth right now.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
Okay, so Intrepid itself, give me that story. I mean
off here, I was just saying, you know, twenty years ago,
I used to watch Intrepid because it always amazed me
that you had a role in you know, twenty years on,
thirty six years on, your actually main player in the
Australian industry. So just give me the rundown very quickly.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Super quick. Thirty six years ago, two university friends from
Melbourne UNI traveling through Africa together on a converted tip
har truck and realized that there was a potential style
of travel where you didn't travel on the organized coach tour,
but equally you didn't travel using the lonely planet on
rough guide and whilst there a way you could put
the two together, so the organized structure of the group
touring environment, but also the freedom and flexibility around using
(03:07):
a local guidebook and effectively that's how they started. One
of them went to Thailand researched the first itinery. One
of them stayed in Melbourne on his kitchen table and
did sales and marketing and trying to put it at
a value based proposition, about fifty dollars a day. In
their first year of operation, they carried a whopping forty
seven people to Thailand. We think that was their family
and friends. Since then, fortune we've grown a bit, obviously
(03:28):
geographical dispersion, different types of products, to the point where
this year in Trappid will carry more than three hundred
thousand customers to over one hundred and fourteen countries all
around the world.
Speaker 1 (03:36):
Wow. In mass those three hundred thousand are Australian or no.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
So about forty five percent of Australians are still our
largest part of the market, but were actually fastest growing
in the Northern Hemisphere now in the UK and also
in the United States. So in tributes to become a
real global name now and I think it's real testament
to the fact that you've got an Australian's success story
that has kind of gone global.
Speaker 1 (03:55):
So how do you cut through the noise? So I
would get an I kind of as Michael, my co host,
fear and greed complaints all the time. I tend to
travel a lot and I am loyal to be honest
to my travel partners. How do you cut through the
noise when there's four or five groups that come to me,
you being one of them all the time, and I
am price conscious but not ultra price conscious, how do
(04:19):
you kind of hit your mark?
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I think we want to provide a value based proposition
where people going to have an amazing experience, But we're
also trying to get awareness for our SOLA travel out there.
People still to this day don't quite understand what does
it mean to go on a small group, what does
it mean to have an immersive experience? So we're trying
to do a little bit of education. We're trying to
get the brand out there with a bit more out
of home advertising, a little bit of sports sponsorship that
(04:41):
we're starting to move into now, and then when we
get people into the funnel, we get the awareness there
we then work very hard to make sure that we
convert them. We're also starting to expand our niche a
little bit into investments into accommodation. Intrepid recently brought wild
Bush Luxury, which has Akaburu and Bamaru Plains, Northern Territory,
Riah Island Walk. We've got the Dangery Eco Lodge, So
(05:02):
really starting to expand that kind of breadth of product
a bit to make it a little bit more mainstream
in people's awareness.
Speaker 1 (05:08):
It's kind of like the EE anti EBNV theory here.
Airbnb have gone from a combination to experiences and in
a sense you're as much an experienced travel company. Is
the future about that sort of integration. I suppose it's
horizontal integration across the industry.
Speaker 2 (05:27):
Yeah, I think there's some vertical integration that will go on,
But ultimately, at the moment our form of experiences, it's
just about getting people aware that this type of immersive,
small group experience is out there, that you don't have
to travel on a big coach tour. You don't still
have to do it independently. So many ways, it's still
the same message from thirty six years ago. You can
go and have a great value experience. Travel through a destination,
try the food, meet the people, travel with some like
(05:49):
minded travelers and have a wonderful experience over seven or
ten days. And that's alsomly what we're trying to do.
Speaker 1 (05:54):
How many times do you travel yourself?
Speaker 2 (05:56):
I spent about seventy percent of the year away from
sunny Melbourne, so a lot of time on planes. It's
probably two hundred days a year, so very lucky, but
also looking forward to a nice Christmas break.
Speaker 1 (06:08):
Okay, final question, but it's an important one. What's a
good deal in travel? Because I can go and get
a good deal. The headline price is good, but then
of course when you're traveling matters, and then there's always
extras in terms of flights and baggage and all that
sort of priority. There seems to be a lot of extras.
(06:30):
How do I judge when it's a good deal.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
I think it's about balancing the value based proposition with
also the experience you're going to get. You know, we
know when you're traveling in Europe, for example, that you
can go and buy your Ryan Air flight for forty dollars,
but you've got to pay for your bag you've got
to pay for your seat, You've sometimes got to pay
for your boarding pass, heaven forbid. So I think it's
always about making sure that as customers we check out
what those additional extras are and sometimes where we might
(06:55):
see a product that's slightly more expensive, often it can
be better value and better experience. So I always say,
in travel, you tend to get what you pay for,
So yeah, look out for those hidden extras that are there.
Speaker 1 (07:06):
Can you actually work those out? Because I totally I
mean I was in Europe during the year I used
Ryan Air, but Ryan Air was fantastic so long as
you didn't have any luggage, so long as you could
get an exit row seat, because suddenly you got somewhere
to put you. You've got priority boarding and all this
sort of stuff. But otherwise it was a fight, you know,
and like it wasn't an enjoyable experience at all. How
(07:26):
do you work all that stuff out?
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Or two ways, One you've got to be very organized,
or two you've got to speak to a travel professional.
And still here in Australia there are amazing travel professionals
who are there and have great responsibilities to be able
to provide you with all the solutions to take the
hustle out of it for you. So go and see
a travel professional and I'm sure they'll take care of you.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
Where's your next trip to.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
My next trip is going to be the Mornington Peninsula
on which might sound a little bit boring for listeners,
but I just want to stay home for a little
bit of time over summer, and then in March, very excitingly,
I'm heading to Central Asia to as Bekistan. We're Intrepid
is opening our thirty second office. Lots of demand to
Central Asia right now to go and see the stance.
Speaker 1 (08:05):
Fantastic, James, thank you for talking to Fear and Greed.
Speaker 2 (08:07):
Great to be with you, Sean.
Speaker 1 (08:08):
That was James Thornton, CEO of Intrepid Travel. I'm Sean
Almer and this is Fear and Greed Q and a
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