Thornton said more than 60% of the Australian-headquartered company’s customer base comes from the UK and North America, and that travellers from those regions are still able to access the area relatively easily.
The bigger challenge is for travellers closer to home in Australia and New Zealand.
“One of our most popular destinations is Morocco, 50% of Aussies and Kiwis access Morocco via the Middle East, and with the uncertainty around flight plans there, that’s definitely more challenging,” Thornton said.
“Then we’re also heading towards the start of the European springtime. Shoulder seasons are really popular for Intrepid, particularly for May-June and September-October.”
He said customers were contacting the company to work out what is going to happen, but most seem content to wait and see, with many booking trips for the second half of the year as opposed to Intrepid’s traditionally busy March period.
However, should the conflict continue and airlines be unable to fly into the Middle East for an extended period, Thornton said it would have a material impact on the business through the year.
Despite the potential threat, Thornton is optimistic that through the business’ diversified locations, travellers will still be able to go overseas – just perhaps to locations closer to home.
“We’re fortunate that we’ve learned over 35 years that diversity of distribution, diversity of the countries that we operate in. Intrepid operates in 114 countries, and all but four are operating completely normally at the moment.
“Yes some areas are affected, but what you’ll see I think is travellers might travel a bit closer to home. North Americans and Brits will continue to travel in and around Europe and to Asia, while Aussies and Kiwis might focus on Asia and Latin America.”
Strong revenue, profit dip
Intrepid Travel reported total revenue from customers of A$809.3 million ($977.5m) for the 12 months ended December 31, 2025, up 29% compared to A$626.5m in 2024.
But its net profit fell 54.9% to A$22.9m, down from A$50.8m the year prior.
The business’ cost of sales increased from A$388.9m in 2024 to A$518.6m in 2025, while administrative expenses also rose from A$132m to A$161.7m.
Over the year, Intrepid conducted 1318 trips with roughly 318,000 customers globally.
Thornton said the profit was down because 2024 included some one-off non-cash accounting items.
This included the recognition of unbooked tax losses, and the disposal of some businesses.
When looking at the underlying performance of the business versus 2024, Thornton said profit grew 26%.
Over 2025, the United Kingdom and Australian markets were particular standouts for Intrepid, as well as the Netherlands following the acquisition of Dutch tour operator Sawadee Reizen in February last year.
“Sawadee Reizen gives us exposure to a new market, and it allows us to get the Intrepid brand name out there for the first time rather than trying to organically set up ourselves.
“It outperformed our business expectations both in terms of growth, but also in terms of their ability to integrate into the wider group. By acquiring the business in the Netherlands, it immediately made the Dutch market our fourth-largest market.”
Thornton said every market has its own intricacies, and the growth in the Dutch market isn’t quite the same as the company gets in Australia or New Zealand, but he expects the business to increase at roughly 10% year-on-year.
As for New Zealand and Australia, the region grew by a combined 23%, including more than A$50m of bookings in one month across Australia and New Zealand together.
Thornton said that per capita, more Kiwis continued to travel with Intrepid than in any other market worldwide. International visitors coming to New Zealand via the business also rose 60% in 2025.
Looking to the year ahead, Thornton confirmed more acquisitions are on the cards, with another European acquisition expected to be announced in the coming months.
He hinted that Intrepid is looking at other markets including Scandinavia, Italy, Germany, France and Switzerland as potential locations to try to replicate its successes.
As for the wider industry, Thornton said that after 21 years in travel, he recognises the sector’s various cycles.
“What it teaches you is that when things are good, make sure that you plan well. We’ve always been very conservative in terms of our cash management and cash balances, and that enabled us to continue to do some investments during the pandemic.”
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business, retail and tourism.
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