Imaginatively eclectic and eye-opening, the UK company’s 35 expert-led tours, tailor-made quests and cruises range from botanicals in southern Africa and a deep dive into Asia’s precious spices to palliative and elderly care in India, midwifery in northern Australia and the origins of belief in Turkey.
Plagues are proving to be a major crowd pleaser and in May a JBT group will embark on a road less travelled for a grand tour seeing how past deadly infections have shaped today’s Europe from Venice to Soho.
Trips are generally two weeks and cost on average £2,000 to £3,000, although cruises are more expensive. Customers usually have vocational jobs or are retired professionals.
“We focus on professional study tours and niche cultural ones, the history of stuff and the more niche the better so places become more meaningful,” declares co-owner and founder Jon Baines.
“As far as I’m aware no other tour operator offers this kind of specialisation. Our study tours are not in conference halls but in the field, our customers really like that they can learn in a different place with different people.
“We partner with professional bodies such as the Royal Society of Medicine and our experts are not travel guides but academics or leaders in their profession.
“Over time we have developed a global network of special interest visits and speakers for both our tours and for private associations.
“Medical history trips covering all aspects of healthcare are now the most popular. The destinations we select are relevant to the theme or profession, reflecting work or special interest.
“We drill down into the local aspects. Culture shapes the world in more ways than we realise. But all our itineraries include visits or activities that appeal to all tourists, for example seeing the Taj Mahal.”
As the cohort of retirees grows, more have the time and means to pursue their interests, observes Baines
“If you know who you are travelling with, that can be reassuring. There are also more solo travellers these days and we make a point of being inclusive and trying to keep costs down for them.”
Today after an inevitable Covid trade dip, JBT employs 10, also has an office in Melbourne, Australia, and is forecasting a record £2.5m turnover in 2025/26.
This year the company joined AITO, the UK’s specialist travel association of independent operators. “We’re currently a comparatively small business and this is enabling us to make a lot more industry contacts and access the knowledge of fellow professionals – all invaluable when you are a growing company,” Baines explains.
Having worked in the travel industry and ran his own nightclub “which is also all about curating an experience for people’, he started the business with his wife 15 years ago.
Beginning with cultural study tours, he expanded links with a range of professions, associations and colleges in the UK, Australia and the US.
More cultural tours with a focus on food, maritime and aspects of history such as religion and botany were added. Then when the pandemic struck JBT organised short local tours in the Northern Territory, Shetland and a mystery one in London that continue to remain part of the portfolio.
While the company’s main markets are the UK and Australia, where it is developing a new lower priced trips division because of grant funding availability, it is aiming to attract more US and Canadian clients and organise more dedicated tours for them.
And with the business helping people to forge lifelong friendships, Baines is right on the money when he reflects: “We’ve become very good matchmakers.”
