Ticket to Ride expands 2016 portfolio
Exeter-based travel group Ticket to Ride (TTR) adds a series of new trips to its 2016 portfolio.
Specialists in surf and snow adventures across the globe, TTR offers instructor courses, gap year experiences, career break opportunities and camps to a variety of worldwide destinations.
With over ten years of experience catering to boardsports enthusiasts, the brand prides itself on its unique product offering. With a wave of exciting new surf trips available this season, TTR now visit Sri Lanka as well a host of other sensational surf hotspots, including Costa Rica, Mozambique and Indonesia.
Founded back in 2005 by high school friends Will Hayler and Linley Lewis, TTR was developed through a love of surfing. Using their own travelling experiences and keen interest from friends, the pair quickly noticed a gap in the market for organised surf trips.
On graduating from university Hayler and Lewis set about planning their first trip and came up with the idea of offering a 10 week surf adventure to South Africa that would guide travellers from Cape Town to Durban and include daily surf coaching, accommodation, volunteering at local community projects and the chance to qualify as a surf instructor at the end of the trip. With an entirely unique concept and no other UK tour operator offering anything remotely similar, Hayler and Lewis subsequently spent the following two years securing investment, mastering business essentials and ensuring TTR was in compliance with travel industry standards. Keeping costs to a minimum, the entrepreneurial duo based operations out of a caravan in Polzeath and worked as part-time surf instructors to help fund their new start up. The location proved to be a great catchment area for marketing the new business and during one summer Hayler and Lewis successfully signed up ten people for TTR’s first trip to South Africa.
By the time January 2007 rolled around, Hayler and Lewis had hit all proposed targets. The pair had successfully filled 20 places on the first trip, raised the money needed to fund it and had already taken a handful of bookings for the following year. They were amazed at just how quickly the goalposts had changed. “The market was comparatively easy back then. It was mid 2007 and the economy had been booming for years. Gap years were something everyone did and the more adventurous and fun they were the better,” says Lewis.
The pair introduced a shorter 4 week trip that took place in the November of that same year and on the back of it, managed to sell over 40 places for the following 10 week trip in January 2008. “It’s one thing having a business idea and registering a company, but it’s quite another having a product offering that stands the test of time,” comments Hayler. Lucky for this business duo, the 10 week gap year snapshot of South Africa remains the company's most popular surf adventure to date.
Ticket to Ride HQ is now based in Exeter allowing both Hayler and Lewis to be within easy reach of London yet retain the surfing lifestyle they are both so passionate about. “Since moving the business to Exeter and opening our second office in Newquay we've grown our team with a number of new local staff,” states Hayler. With plans to expand the team even more and a new office based on Exeter’s historic quayside from this summer, TTR hope to offer an increasing amount of attractive employment opportunities in Exeter to discourage new graduates from migrating to London.
One university graduate that has chosen to develop her career in the beautiful cathedral city is Ticket to Ride Sales Manager, Katie Gray. Commenting on her position with the Exeter-based brand Katie states, “I’ve been working for Ticket to Ride for the past 18 months and during this time I’ve gained invaluable sales knowledge, skied and overseen our operations in France and Canada, and will head out to New Zealand in July to welcome our next group of ski and snowboard instructors in the making. Securing a job that not only allows me to do the things I love, but also talk about them everyday is more than I could have hoped for! Not only have we got some really exciting developments planned for our next winter season, including a New Year’s Snow Safari in Banff, but our surf offering just keeps getting better, with three new surf adventures in Sri Lanka, a surf trip in collaboration with Wavelength Magazine in Portugal and a road trip up the east coast of Bali, already launched this year.”
TTR hosted its first 'coast to coast’ road trip to Sri Lanka in March 2016. Fusing expert surf coaching with sunrise and sunset yoga sessions, the new three week adventure explores both southern and eastern provinces. Commenting on the new trip Lewis states,“Sri Lanka is arguably one of the best places in the world to learn to surf. It has user friendly breaks, empty waves and small crowds, which makes it the perfect destination for enthusiastic beginners. We tailor our surf coaching according to each traveller’s ability to ensure individuals improve as quickly and effectively as possible. With the promise of glistening white sand beaches and consistent surf, Ahangama is the first destination on the new Sri Lankan adventure, and sees travellers spending two weeks grasping and practising the surfing basics. The final week is spent in Arugam Bay, a small beachside town famed for its world-class point break.
In their mission to spread their passion for surfing far and wide, Hayler and Lewis are also the proud owners of two leading surf schools in Cornwall. Located in Perranporth and Newquay, Ticket to Ride Surf Schools offer individual and group surf lessons, stand up paddleboard sessions and weekend surf camps. With the return of the popular ladies-only Paddle and Prosecco evenings this summer and a partnership with Bike Chain Ricci on the horizon, the future of the Ticket to Ride Group has never looked brighter.
Currently turning over £2 million, TTR aims to reach £5 million in five year’s time by continuing to develop a wider range of shorter surf and snowboard experiences to better cater to time poor adventurers. With a strong foothold in the youth travel market and recognising that long stints away from the office is not always possible, the company hopes compact versions of their ‘once in a lifetime’ trips will appeal to a more mature audience and boost growth at the same time. For more information, please visit www.tickettoridegroup.com
