The Adventure People secures backing from Butlins parent founding family

The Harris Family make a seven-figure investment into specialist online operator

The family behind Butlins parent Bourne Leisure has invested a seven-figure sum into UK adventure travel specialist The Adventure People.

The firm, founded by former Travel Republic chief commercial officer Chris Roche, is doubling the size of its technology team as well as hiring for roles in sales, marketing and commercial.

The  Harris Family were the largest shareholders in Bourne Leisure until last year when they sold a controlling stake to Blackstone.

Roche, The Adventure People chief executive, said: “Like all travel businesses, we’ve found the past two years incredibly challenging and we have had to manage our cost base and cash flow very carefully.

“With our heads down, we focused on our technology and customer offering. Despite the difficult market conditions, the business continued to grow throughout the pandemic.

“We have now been fortunate to secure significant backing which will allow us to pursue our goal of being the global market leader for adventure and experience based holidays.”

As part of the investment Paul Harris, son of Peter, the founder pf Bourne Leisure, has joined the firm’s board. Roche added: “I am delighted to welcome Paul Harris to the board.

“Paul has a wealth of experience in travel and leisure from Bourne Leisure and Hollywood Bowl among others, as well as valuable experience in corporate finance.

“We look forward to continuing our growth through 2022 and onwards.”

The Adventure People was founded in 2019 and was part of the winter 2019/20 London & Partners cohort of fastest growing companies,

It offers 10,000 adventures and tours from leading and local operators globally.

In 2020, it acquired an Atol license, making it the “world’s first adventure and touring company which allows people to add their own flights to their adventure online,” it claimed.