Blackpool school travel firm aiming for £27m turnover following new acquisition

Now Next Generation Travel (NGT), has bought a Chester-based school tour firm for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition enables Galina International Study Tours to offer flights for the first time as part of its school trip packages.

The move is set to increase NGT’s turnover to £27m, with employee numbers reaching 100 and annual passengers tallying more than 80,000.

Established in 2010, Next Generation Travel includes the WST Travel, FHT Travel, Anglia Tours, plus the Study Experiences, Sport Experiences and Remembrance Travel brands which it took on in October 2018.

The Bristol Avenue parent company is now the driving force behind seven of the UK’s fastest growing educational travel brands and offers immersive tours to young people from 10 - 21 years, which are designed to offer unique and empowering learning experiences outside of the classroom.

Established in 1989, Galina initially focused upon battlefield tours before expanding its portfolio to include school tours. The firm has built its strong reputation upon the principle that study tours must be directly relevant to the curriculum.

Speaking of the acquisition success, Deborah Beckett, Next Generation Travel managing director, said: “Galina has a fantastic reputation and matches our commitment to tailor school tours to the requirements of the curriculum.

Providing high levels of customer service and bespoke tours has fuelled our growth and it’s exciting to join forces with a company that has such an affinity with our values.”

The only educational travel company to be awarded the Investors in People Standard and Service Excellence Award, WST Travel has been named the UK’s Best School Tour Operator in The School Travel Awards for the last three years.

The group won an award for Best Customer Service at the 2015 British Youth Travel Awards.