Niche tour firm branches out with bridge
Ali Naqvi of Arena Travel
A NICHE tour operator will be shuffling a new deck after snapping up an upmarket bridge holiday firm.
Ipswich-based specialist holiday firm Arena Travel, has expanded its range of holiday services by acquiring First for Bridge Ltd.
First for Bridge, which has been trading in various guises for more than 40 years provides top-end bridge-playing holidays for the over-50s, and built its success on offering customers high quality hosted breaks under owners Martin and Judy Holcombe.
Arena Travel has been working in partnership with First for Bridge to facilitate some First for Bridge’s holidays for more than two years, but the sale opens the doors for it to expand the range of bridge holidays in the UK and abroad.
Arena managing director Ali Naqvi said: “We recently received a major boost from a consortium of well-connected investors and this has allowed us to expand our niche tours at a much-faster rate.
“Specialist tours for the over-50s is an area of growth within the travel industry and it’s one we’re keen to exploit.”
The Holcombes will remain as hosts for the bridge holidays and Arena Travel has added new destinations to the existing portfolio.
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The 2013/14 programme has increased by almost 50%.
