Day tour operator, Intrepid Urban Adventures, is poised to further expand its product range as it plans for accelerated growth over the next few years.

The start-up joint venture between Intrepid and travel and technology firm WHL Group has set ambitious long term goals to carry one million passengers globally, a seemingly lofty target given it carried only 49,000 passengers in 2012/13.

But since launching into a notoriously fragmented market in 2009, Urban Adventures has overseen solid growth. Its revenues of US$2.4 million in the year to September were 40% up on the previous year while year-on-year first quarter revenue (October-December) climbed almost 60% to $863,000.

Passenger numbers are forecast to rise to 75,000 this year.

Managing director, Tony Carne, said it would continue to chase “group haters”, a reference to travellers who are seeking in-destination experiences but who recoil at fully-structured group travel.

While day tours remain at the core of Urban Adventures – with excursions in almost 100 cities – Carne said the product range is beginning to broaden.

In November it launched ‘Fun Independent Travel Passes’ for travel between Bangkok and Hanoi, with the product to be extended for routes in North east America in mid-February and eastern Europe – between Turkey and Venice – in late April.

The pass includes day tours in cities on the route, point-to-point overland travel and a SIM card to enable clients to contact the company to make tour bookings. Accommodation is not included and must be booked individually.

Carne, who described the passes as the “skeleton” of a tour around which travellers can organise their trip, said the trade has taken to the product as it provides a solution for customers who want independence and flexibility, but with a degree of structure along the way.

Previously, travel agents had nowhere to turn, he claimed.

“There are customers who walk into a retailer and want to go to South East Asia but who don’t want a group tour. At that point the travel agent is stuck,” Carne said. “There is not a lot for the group-haters who want independence but who are also seeking a bit of structure and the advice and recommendations of a local. That is what we provide.”

Its day tours are designed to “get under the skin” of a city through the eyes of a local guide, he said, a sea change from the “hop-on-hop-off bus experience”.

Meanwhile, its ‘home cooked’ program where travellers have a meal with a local family in their homes, is being expanded to more destinations while one-day dive tours are also set for growth.

Carne told Travel Today other product was being explored, including self-drive options which use mapping technology.

While the one million passenger target set by Urban Adventures appears fanciful, the in-destination, tours and activities market is worth almost US$28 million, according to a 2011 PhocusWright report, an indication of its enormous potential for operators. Its worth is almost double that of the car rental market.

Carne said many players have tried, but failed to capture meaningful market share, with several falling by the wayside, hampered by a lack of technology and distribution.

In its report, PhocusWright described tours and activities as a “fantastically fragmented market”, served by countless small, local providers with little technological sophistication.

“Most activity providers generate sales of well under $1 million annually and lack the resources to invest in modern distribution technology,” the report stated. “Some one in five providers do not even have a website.

“With an average value transaction across all activities of not much more than $100, ceilings are low for margins to fund intermediaries and technology investment.”

By tapping into Intrepid’s existing global infrastructure, and its relationships with Destination Management Companies, and using the technology expertise of WHL, Urban Adventures is well placed to make its mark, Carne said.

Acquisitions may be also be explored, he revealed, with management keeping tabs on start-up operations “whose seed funding is about to run out”.