Gray Dawes expands Australia presence with Verve Travel acquisition

UK-based Gray Dawes Group has acquired Australia’s Verve Travel and Leisure, which includes both Verve Travel Management and leisure agency Bay Travel and Cruise.

It is the group’s 16^th acquisition in recent years and takes Gray Dawes’ combined turnover to more than £600 million and employee numbers up to over 550. Financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed.

After a series of UK deals, the company has established a global presence in recent years, acquiring Australian agency MP Travel and Florida’s Express Travel in 2023, followed by Dutch TMC VCK Travel earlier this year, which Gray Dawes said would “almost double” the size of the business.

“Our clients increasingly want global solutions, even the smaller ones,” said Suzanne Horner, Gray Dawes Group CEO. “They’re taking us on the journey. We’ve been very successful picking up businesses in the UK, Australia, the US and Europe and integrating them. We know how to do that well. Now, we’re excited to incorporate Verve Travel into our group.”

Horner also stressed the company’s ‘round-the-sun’ service capability and added that ‘out of hours’ is “simply no longer a thing… we are always on”.

Family-owned Verve Travel was set up in 2001 and has offices in Melbourne and Brisbane. The travel firm is run by joint managing directors Kathryn and Kurt Sari.

“There are so many synergies across the businesses which makes this a very natural fit,” said Kurt Sari. “By being part of the Gray Dawes Group, we will be even stronger and able to deliver enhanced global opportunities to our staff and clients alike.”

Gray Dawes was ranked as the 11^th largest TMC in the UK and the 15^th largest in Europe in the list of Europe’s Leading TMCs 2024, based on its 2023 sales figures.