The Next Dollar: Three Competing Strategies at Lindblad, Intrepid, and Travelopia

Skift Take Lindblad is buying out founders, Travelopia is pruning an asset-heavy portfolio, and Intrepid is buying brands to strengthen its ground network. Each of these companies is deciding which parts of the trip it must control. On January 31, 2025, Intrepid Travel, one of the world's largest adventure tour operators, acquired a Dutch company called Sawadee Reizen from Travelopia, a portfolio of specialist travel brands owned by KKR. Sawadee had about $65 million in annual revenue (A$100 million) and 20,000 customers. Intrepid called it the largest acquisition in its history. For Travelopia, Sawadee was one of several businesses it sold between September 2024 and July 2025. For Travelopia, Sawadee was a profitable business inside a portfolio facing heavy demands from ships, yachts, leases, and debt. For Intrepid, the same business was a way to enter the Dutch market and push 20,000 customers through infrastructure it already ran across 118 countries. Multi-day touring — the business of selling packaged adventure trips lasting several days or more — is almost entirely privately owned. Most of the companies that run it don’t disclose much publicly about their finances. These three a