Newmarket Holidays

Newmarket Holidays is a British multi-award-winning, independently owned tour operator, based in Wallington, Greater London. Founded in 1983, the company has over 40 years of experience operating escorted tours and has since become one of the UK’s leading and most respected travel companies.

Employing more than 140 members of staff, Newmarket Holidays offers a wide selection of escorted, air-inclusive tours and resort-based stays across the UK, Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa. The company also offers day trips to Lapland, packages to the Wimbledon Championships, and the Edinburgh Tattoo, as well as concert breaks to see Dutch violinist, André Rieu.  

Toni Frei and Jeremy Griffin founded Newmarket Promotions Limited, the parent company of Newmarket Holidays, and incorporated the business on 22 March 1983. Managing Director Simon Hibbs joined them in 1984, and together, the three remain shareholders of the group. Frei initially worked in publishing, including Haymarket Publishing, while Griffin worked for pioneering hotel group Grand Metropolitan Hotels. Hibbs, a graduate of St Catharine's College, Cambridge University, qualified as a Chartered Accountant at Price Waterhouse (now PWC) and began his career with the firm before joining Newmarket as Chief Executive.

In 2019, Niel Alobaidi joined the business as Chief Executive, with the founding members stepping down from day-to-day operations. Alobaidi arrived from DNATA, where he was Managing Director of Emirates Holidays European source markets (including UK & Ireland), having held prior senior roles at TUI Travel PLC's Specialist Division. In 2022 Alobaidi invested in the business and became the fourth shareholder at Newmarket Holidays.

Newmarket Holidays, incorporated in 1988, is a wholly owned subsidiary of the parent company. Both companies are members of ABTA, the Association of British Travel Agents, and Newmarket Air Holidays holds a Civil Aviation Authority Air Travel Organisers' Licence.

Newmarket Holidays’ first few years of trading focused on providing reader offer travel arrangements to UK newspaper publishers. Client newspapers included regional titles and a large number of local and national newspapers.

Early coach travel-inclusive holidays offered by Newmarket Holidays included London, Paris and Amsterdam, to which a range of UK breaks, including the Edinburgh Military Tattoo, and longer duration European trips, including Switzerland, Austria and France, were added.

The incorporation of Newmarket Air Holidays enabled the Group to offer air travel-inclusive arrangements, with Malta an early destination for the group.

The opening of Disneyland Paris (formerly Euro Disney) in 1992 was significant for the Newmarket Group, as the company established itself as a UK tour operating partner of the resort, receiving the Leisure Group Operator of the Year award in 1999, and the relationship led to the establishment of Newmarket's Study Experiences division, which held curriculum-led educational seminars and conferences at Disneyland Paris each year.

Newmarket Holidays continued to expand its offerings to travellers, adding new destinations and new flights on a regular basis, expanding into the US, the Far East and India. In 2010, Newmarket Holidays launched a new catalogue of festive season trips and escorted holidays by air to a number of new European and global locations.  

The company moved its headquarters from McMillan House, in Worcester Park, to Cantium House in Wallington in May 2015. 

By the mid-2010s, Newmarket Holidays sold its coaching operation and focussed on providing holidays by air and rail.

Newmarket Holidays maintained a focus on providing reader travel arrangements for newspaper publishers. Clients included national publishers News Corp UK & Ireland Limited – particularly their publications the Sun and the Times – the Daily Mail, Daily Telegraph, The Guardian and Mirror Group, several regional newspaper groups, including Trinity Mirror Regionals plc, Newsquest Media Group, Local World, Archant Limited, Tindle Newspapers Limited, DC Thomson & Co Ltd, The KM Group, The Express and Star and The Irish News, as well as independent titles. 

In addition, Newmarket Holidays established trading partnerships with retail travel agencies and joined the Truly Independent Professional Travel Organisation (TIPTO). The company also became a trusted partner of the Association of Independent Travel Operators (AITO), which reflects its commitment to delivering high-quality travel operations with a focus on consumer security and sustainability.  

In addition to its range of air-inclusive holidays, Newmarket Holidays also launched a number of travel- and accommodation-inclusive arrangements for events such as the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo^[13], the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships, and the concerts of Dutch violinist André Rieu. Due to its popularity, the company has been granted exclusive access to the Wimbledon ground throughout the annual Championships and is the only travel operator that’s allowed coaches on-site.

The company underwent a significant rebrand in 2018, which brought sweeping changes to its logos, slogans and marketing materials. Newmarket Holidays adopted the new slogan, “Where stories begin”, and described its changes as an important step in recognising ‘the important part travel experiences play in customers’ lives and narratives’. 

Newmarket Holidays significantly expanded its worldwide portfolio, becoming a leading tour operator for India, the Far East, and North America. Throughout this period, the company also launched a range of specialist products including Elvis-themed tours, visiting some of America’s most famous musical landmarks, rail holidays through Canada’s Rocky Mountains and national parks, and a range of safari escapes across Sub-Saharan Africa. 

In 2023, as part of its 40^th anniversary celebrations, Newmarket Holidays rebranded again with a fresh colour palette, logo design and font set which aimed to celebrate its evolution as a company while maintaining a strong visual link to its heritage.

At present, the escorted touring and cruise markets are growing sectors of the travel industry and Newmarket Holidays is well placed to offer customers a broad portfolio and tours and cruises. The company currently offers over 190 escorted tours across Europe, Asia, Africa and the Americas, and has become synonymous with specialist holidays such as Safaris and tours of the world’s most iconic destinations. 

 With group sizes varying from 12-49, the company offers customers a wide array of options to suit their individual preferences. The brand is also continuing to diversify its tour listings, with Ocean and River Cruise holidays also part of its portfolio, and partners with well-established, like-minded brand names.  

Identifying trends in the travel industry, Newmarket Holidays has recently launched an Exclusively Solos collection and its Premier Collection which offers easily identifiable alternatives to the company’s mainstream tours. Launched in 2024, the company’s Premier Collection features smaller group sizes, higher-end accommodations and more leisurely-paced itineraries, and marked Newmarket Holidays’ entry into the luxury travel industry. This selection of tours joined the company’s existing Exclusively Solos collection which caters to a growing market of independent travellers and showcases 10 specialist tours tailored entirely for solo customers. Supplementing its Exclusively Solos collection, the company also provides no single supplement places on more than 25 of its mainstream tours. 

At present, Newmarket Holidays operates a growing number of holidays across the USA, including a range of tours celebrating the country’s best-known stars, and also offers a wide range of Canadian tours. It also remains a popular choice for holidays across southeast Asia, Africa and, more recently, Central Asia with tours across Uzbekistan being released in 2024.

Newmarket Holidays has regularly won accolades at all major industry awards and in 2023, won 8 Golds at the British Travel Awards, voted by the public, including the ‘Best Travel Company for Safari’, ‘Touring and Escorted Group Holidays’, and took silver in ‘Best Rail Holidays’ and for the Best in South-Eastern Europe region. A further three bronze medals completed their collection of awards and marked the 11^th consecutive year that Newmarket Holidays had won at the British Travel Awards. Elsewhere in 2023, the travel operator received the Agents Favourite Mainstream Touring Company award at the Travel Gossip Awards and the Best Mainstream Touring Company at Travel Weekly’s Globe Awards.  

In 2024, Newmarket Holidays was named the Best Mainstream Touring Company at the Travel Weekly’s prestigious Globe Travel Awards for the third year running. The company has since been nominated across several categories for the 2024 British Travel Awards.

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