Checking in with Intrepid’s Christian Wolters

For Christian Wolters, being back with Intrepid Travel “feels strangely right.”

Intrepid recently revamped its North America team, upping Leigh Barnes to president of Americas and naming Christian Wolters general manager, North America marketing, as well as its first president of Canada. Wolters joined from TourRadar, where he spent the last nine years in executive leadership roles, including, most recently, chief marketing officer.

Wolters’ entry into the travel industry was with Intrepid back in 2008, handling North American sales and marketing. After nine years away, he’s happy to be working alongside familiar faces for a company that’s grown in his absence. “I never thought I’d go back to a company I used to work at,” he told TMR.

The Australia-based tour company was little known on this side of the ocean back in the late-aughts. Wolters was a founding member of Intrepid in Canada from 2008 to 2015.

“I was privileged to be part of the group that was building it before,” Wolters told TMR. “In 2008, no one knew who we were … I took a big leap of faith because there was no brand, there was no track record [in North America.]”

After returning to Intrepid this summer, Wolters was pleased to discover that in 2024, this is no longer the case.

TMR sat down with the exec in Intrepid’s brand-new office space in downtown Toronto to hear how he’s settled in since his July 1 start date.

Wolters has kept busy over the last two months, catching up on what he’s missed and identifying growth opportunities in U.S. and Canada. He described how gratifying it has been to meet with advisors who are familiar with the Intrepid brand.

“Advisors are a major part of who we work with,” he told TMR. “We’re quite excited about the growth, especially here in Canada.”

Intrepid and the future of small group adventure travel

One of his first decisions was to move the Toronto office into a larger space within the building, which is better suited to host outside guests. His goal is to hold one or two industry events a month to help boost the brand and foster collaboration. He hopes advisors will come to learn more about Intrepid’s offerings, as well as its partners and the Intrepid Foundation.

“We know there are people who will book exclusively through travel advisors, so we need to grow the category,” he explained.

Small group adventure travel is poised to grow globally, and Wolters wants to make sure Intrepid has the brand recognition to be a market leader in the segment.

Wolters told TMR they estimate a total addressable market of 28 million in North America, with 20 million from the U.S. alone. This is based on business metrics as well as psychological overlays.

“Not everyone is going to take an Intrepid trip. It takes a certain demographic, but also someone who is conscious about the footprint they leave and wants to give back. They also want to have a rich cultural experience.”

Based on that overlay, Intrepid estimates the market in North America could be 10, possibly 20, times larger than the opportunity in the U.K. and Australia – hence the recent expansion in the U.S. and Canada.

“That’s one of the reasons headquarters brought me back,” Wolters explained. “They saw the opportunity and knew I had familiarity, appreciation and love of the Intrepid brand.”

Capturing the potential

Reflecting back on his time with TourRadar, Wolters said small group travel demographics have gotten older since the pandemic. This too might start to shift: “we’re starting to see the younger generation pick up again” he said.

He pointed to a rise in travelers who are interested in sustainable and immersive experiences. The main demographic is single women in their mid to late 40s – about a decade older than when he first joined Intrepid – although the number of childless couples and men booking is increasing.

Wolters has his work cut out for him in terms of U.S. marketing efforts. In his experience, more Canadian advisors are familiar with, and interested in selling, small group travel than their peers down south. He’ll need to maintain momentum in the Great White North while finding new strategies to reach American customers and advisors.

Wolters also told TMR that one of the main differences between the industry in the U.S versus Canada is that a strong online presence is more important to the former than the latter.

“Definitely online is more prominent in the U.S.” he said. “ No matter who you are and what you’re selling, a strong website is really, really critical.”

Wolters added that improving online marketing is one of his long-term goals. He mentioned exploring various tech options such as SEO tools or using AI to automate menial tasks.

“We’ve got great product, but as an online company, we can improve.”

Premium adventure travel

Wolters noted that the premium options are on the rise, suggesting this emerging trend could be key in capturing North American market potential. While not exactly luxury, it is a form of adventure travel that offers more comfort in the areas that matter: mainly, lodgings.

“We’ve also noticed that our more premium style of travel is increasing. Maybe it’s a byproduct of the age of our demographic … People don’t mind roughing it during the day, but they want a really nice bed at night,” he told TMR.

Wolters believes the trend will continue, and will lead to the formation of new group travel categories within the adventure space.

“We’re seeing [the premium] style increase over time, and I think that’s going to create new subsections,” he said.

“We don’t have this yet, but what about an active premium product? For people who want to go hiking, biking – do all the fun things – rough it, get dirty. But then have a nice hot shower, an amazing, memorable meal, and a nice bed to sleep in.

So it doesn’t mean that everything about your trip is premium, but the things that count.”

Wolters was firm that there’s a huge market potential of travelers who would enjoy adventure travel if they understood it better. He suggested many might be intimidated by the concept, and these are the people he needs to win over.

“I think quite honestly there’s a segment of people who want to do it but think, ‘I’m not Bear Grylls. I’m not this adventurous person.’ But you can do it. Everyone can do it because there’s a company that can facilitate this for you.”

Improving Intrepid’s capacity to deliver information digitally, and developing new ways to reach travel advisors, will be key to overcoming this hurdle. Wolters is looking into better event training for trade shows and improving Intrepid’s visibility in the b2b space.

“At the end of the day, we all do like that opportunity to get together and talk to people who do the same line of work as us.”