Travel Counsellors expands into North America with acquisition of The Travel Agent Next Door, Canada’s leading travel agent community

Transformational acquisition creates a leading technology enabled, premium international travel operator with sales of c.£1.5bn and adds 1,700 travel professionals to the enlarged business.

Travel Counsellors, the fast-growing travel company backed by Vitruvian Partners, is delighted to announce it has agreed a strategic international acquisition of The Travel Agent Next Door (“TTAND”), creating a transatlantic leader in the travel operator market and marking a significant milestone in the Company’s international expansion strategy.

Travel Counsellors powers a thriving and growing community of more than 2,200 independent travel entrepreneurs — including over 80 in Ireland — with its scalable technology platform, which is supported by continuous investment of approaching £20m per annum. This ongoing technology investment included the recent launch of TC Co-Pilot, the Company’s propriety, data-driven AI agent designed to enhance productivity for each of the travel entrepreneurs and business owners in its network, thereby enabling them to deliver customers with the best combination of tech and human touch and providing customers with peace of mind, assurance, personalised advice and tailored travel.

Operating a similar business model and customer-centric ethos to Travel Counsellors, TTAND is Canada’s leading travel agent community which supports more than 1,700 independent travel professionals. The business generates annual turnover of approximately CAD$500m. Founded in 2014 by Flemming Friisdahl, TTAND’S CEO, and two other seasoned travel entrepreneurs on a culture of care and entrepreneurial spirit, TTAND has built its enviable reputation on empowering agents to succeed while delivering outstanding service to their customers. TTAND has scaled rapidly over the past decade to become the clear leader in providing personalised, premium leisure travel advice in Canada, one of the largest outbound travel markets in the world.

The acquisition will enable both businesses to benefit from: superior scale with over 3,900 professional travel business owners in the enlarged Group; a more diversified international profile with exceptionally strong brands in both the UK and Canada; and cross-company knowledge sharing, with Flemming Friisdahl continuing to lead the TTAND operation as CEO. Additionally, over time TTAND’s 1,700-strong and fast-growing travel agent community will benefit from migration to Travel Counsellors bespoke technology platform.

The combination with TTAND accelerates the Company’s international growth strategy, with operations now in seven international markets. It marks Travel Counsellors’ third acquisition in the past three years, following the successful deals to acquire award-winning UK premium leisure travel company Holidaysplease in March 2023 and the Planisto technology platform in January 2024. The acquisition comes soon after Travel Counsellors’ record-breaking 2024/25 financial year. In the 12 months to 31^st October 2025, Travel Counsellors achieved total transaction value (“TTV”) of £1.1bn and EBITDA of over £40m, which represents a doubling since the Covid-19 pandemic and compound average EBITDA growth of nearly 15% per annum over the last three years. As a result of the acquisition, the enlarged Group is expected to achieve TTV of £1.5bn and EBITDA of £50m in the next 12 months.

Steve Byrne, CEO of Travel Counsellors, commented: “We are delighted to join forces with Flemming and the team at The Travel Agent Next Door, Canada’s most successful travel agent community. TTAND is a business we have long admired for its strong entrepreneurial culture and leadership, exceptional internal engagement amongst its community of travel business owners, and outstanding reputation for providing first-class customer care. Together, we will continue to build on the outstanding culture and essence of TTAND and drive further success.

“This is a partnership where the combined company will become more than the sum of its parts. Both organisations have been built on strong values that put people, personalisation and entrepreneurial spirit first.  TTAND’s established leadership team share our hunger to grow and continue to disrupt the leisure and corporate travel market through highly personal service and a relentless focus on the customer, powered by a continuous investment in market leading technology. I know that both businesses will learn a lot from each other whilst also benefitting from superior scale, clear local market leadership and expertise, and – in time – the benefits of our technology platform driving enhanced personalisation for the benefit of TTANDs agents and customers.

“The deal is an important milestone in our growth strategy as we focus on leveraging our proprietary technology to build a leading global travel platform, combining the very best of the human touch and tech, to deliver enhanced personalisation, care and peace of mind for customers. Canada is one of the world’s largest outbound travel markets and in TTAND we have partnered with one of the most successful travel businesses in that market with significant further headroom for growth in the premium leisure and corporate travel markets. This deal also provides an important gateway for our company into the wider North American market, which represents a significant potential future growth opportunity.

“We closed out our 2024/25 financial year at the end of October with another year of strong profitable growth and record transaction value of £1.1bn. We have our sights firmly set on doubling the size of the business in the coming years underpinned by the relevance and scalability of our model. In a time of accelerated change in the industry, we are confident that companies that can deploy best in breed AI tools, alongside the human touch and personalisation relevant to customers and their preferences, have great opportunities to do well.  Our customers want the best advice and travel experiences that are relevant to them, as well as superior, trusted support in case things go wrong. Travel Counsellors’ mission is to embrace the opportunities from AI and offer these to our community of travel experts via our platform, in turn giving customers high levels of confidence and trust in a time of change.”

Flemming Friisdahl, CEO of The Travel Agent Next Door, commented: “I have always looked at Travel Counsellors as a leader when it comes to travel professionals that work remotely and flexibly, and I am very excited to be partnering with them for two very important reasons. Number one is the culture, it aligns very much with the TTAND culture, given it is all about our support team and our agent partners. The second reason is their commitment to being innovative and bringing the most effective technology tools to their community of travel experts.  We cannot wait to bring some of the benefits of Travel Counsellors’ sector-leading technology and product to support our team in Canada.”

The acquisition is subject to customary regulatory approvals. Travel Counsellors was advised on the Acquisition by Harris Williams, Mayer Brown, FTI Consulting, PWC, McCarthy Tétrault, Gowling WLG, Broadway Insurance Partners, CG Consultancy and Travel Trade Consultancy. TTAND was advised by Optimus SBR and WeirFoulds LLP.