iExplore Acquired by First Choice Holidays, a US$4BN specialty travel business in the U.K.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CHICAGO, March 1, 2007—First Choice Holidays PLC has acquired the specialist niche businesses of i-to-i (International Projects Limited), iExplore, Inc. and TKJ Pty Ltd trading as WesternXposure for a combined total initial consideration of £16.6m and future payments of up to £13.7m dependent on performance. The three businesses will be included within the Group’s Activity Holidays Sector.

i-to-i, headquartered in the UK, has established itself as a leading provider of Meaningful Travel experiences while iExplore, Inc. is a US premium adventure travel internet portal and WesternXposure is an Australian operator of adventure tours in Western Australia and the Northern Territory.

i-to-i (www.i-to-i.com)

i-to-i was set up in 1995 as a provider of TEFL courses and advice on overseas placements.  Following on from its TEFL credentials, i-to-i was able to establish a product portfolio servicing the Meaningful Travel segment of the market and currently sends more than 5,000 people annually on one of these experiences.  This includes both Volunteer Travel - with projects in community development and conservation as well as specialist work experience projects in media and medicine – and Meaningful Tours which are structured as off the beaten track experiences, often including elements of volunteer work.  

Building on its Meaningful Travel expertise, i-to-i now offers corporate organisations the opportunity to engage their employees in overseas volunteering via its Volunteer Partnerships Abroad Scheme. Employers support their employees whilst they partake in volunteering projects overseas.  i-to-i offers individual volunteer projects or group challenges for between six and 30 people and this is seen as a significant area of future growth for the business.

i-to-i has built an unparalleled level of knowledge and experience in its segment, has an extensive network of contacts across the world and is one of the leading companies in the field of charity tourism.  Customers fall broadly into two life-stages, pre or post university gap-year students (18 – 24 years) and career break travellers (generally 25 – 35 years).  It has offices in Leeds, Denver, USA, Melbourne, Australia and Dungarven, Ireland and operates in both a high growth and highly profitable segment of the market.

iExplore (www.iExplore.com)

Based in Chicago, iExplore was formed in 1999 and since its inception has driven significant internet traffic through its portal as well as establishing a position as the Google authority site for adventure travel in the US.  The activity and experiential online space is less mature than the online mainstream space and it provides substantial opportunities for iExplore whose site architecture was created to be search engine friendly from the outset.  It generates over one million unique visitors per month from its travel product retail site and its community (forum) site.  The forum area offers consumers research resources including books, suggestions on clothing and equipment and trip reviews from fellow travellers.  In addition, advertising space is made available to credible travel and adventure related blue chip customers, which provides a substantial amount of income to the business.

The travel business offers over 500 adventure and experiential trips, predominantly for US customers.  200 of the trips are own label ‘iExplore Exclusives’ and account for circa 90% of passenger volumes within the business.  iExplore’s customer demographics fit within the affluent 30’s and young 50’s where the average household income is US$120,000 per annum.  This acquisition provides the Group with proprietorial technology that, over time, can be used in other source markets.

WesternXposure (www.westernXposure.com.au)

Based in Perth, Western Australia, WesternXposure is at the forefront of adventure tourism in this region. With 29 itineraries offering eco-based camping and accommodated tours to all the icons of Western Australia and into the Northern Territory it has the most comprehensive range of tours available on the west coast of Australia.   The fully guided tours range from 1 – 24 days and are conducted in a modern fleet of custom-built 4WD’s and mini-buses. WesternXposure takes over 15,000 customers each year, primarily in the 20-45 age group, deep into the outback to attractions and destinations which include, Monkey Mia, Broome, Uluru, The Pinnacles, Darwin and Alice Springs.  In addition to English language tours, WesternXposure has also established a Japanese language tours offering.

First Choice entered the Australian soft adventure market in 2004 with the acquisition of Let’s Trek Australia a specialist provider of similar tours to remote parts of Eastern Australia.  The acquisition of WesternXposure brings together the two leading businesses in Western and Eastern Australia creating geographic coverage and expertise in a high growth market which is popular within the Australian domestic market and for international travellers to Australia.

Commenting on the businesses, Peter Long, Chief Executive, First Choice said:
“We have established a leading presence in the adventure travel market, not only in the UK but also internationally.  I am delighted that i-to-i, iExplore and WesternXposure have joined the Group as part of the Activity Holidays Sector.  We have led the way in consolidating this fragmented growth area and these three businesses give us the opportunity to enter new segments of the market place, broaden our product range, offer exciting growth prospects and wider-scale future development prospects.”

 

Note to editors:
Deeb available for interview.
Photos available.

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Press Contact: George Deeb
Founder and CEO
iExplore, Inc.
312-492-9443 x102
pressrelease@iexplore.com