Our Story
The UK’s best escorted touring operator
Newmarket Holidays was founded in 1983 in a small flat in South London, with the aim of offering carefully planned journeys. Since then, we’ve built over 40 years of experience and grown into one of the largest independently owned specialists in the country, headquartered in Wallington, Surrey.
We’ve also developed partnerships with travel agents, media publishers, and online platforms, alongside our own direct sales. Today, we’re the UK’s best escorted touring operator, with more five-star reviews, more tours, and more departure dates than any other.
One thing hasn’t changed – our focus on helping you reach the destinations on your wish-list, supported by a knowledgeable tour manager throughout.
March
Our company is founded by Jeremy Griffin and Toni Frei, and incorporated as Newmarket Promotions Limited.
May
We move to McMillan House, Worcester Park, at the same time as our very first tour heads to Paris.
June
The first of hundreds of colleagues join the original founders, and our portfolio of tours begins to expand.
August
Simon Hibbs joins as Managing Director and Shareholder, and our first Edinburgh Tattoo trip runs.
Newmarket continues to develop its range, including holidays to Switzerland and the Austrian Alps.
Our first cruise ship charter sets sail, Newmarket Holidays is granted an ATOL (Air Tour Organiser’s Licence) certificate, and joins the Association of British Travel Agents. Our first air holiday, to Malta, is launched.
Euro Disney (later Disneyland® Resort Paris) opens, and Newmarket is the largest UK operator to the Park in the initial launch period.
The Buckingham Palace State Rooms are opened to the public for the first time, and Newmarket is the largest operator of visitor breaks.
Our first Wimbledon breaks, in association with the All England Club, head to SW19. (We're still an official tour operator to the Championships, today.)
Air holidays to Lake Garda and Sorrento, the beginnings of our award-winning Italian Collection, are offered for the first time.
Study Experiences, Newmarket's educational travel division, is created, and its first tours depart that November.
The run in to the millennium sees further growth in ‘reader holiday’ sales, and of Study Experiences, who are appointed Official Provider of Schools Travel to the 2002 Manchester Commonwealth Games.
Our first charter flights from selected regional airports depart, and provide us with our first travel agency sales.
Our first tours featuring ‘low-cost’ flights from regional airports go on sale, and Newmarket returns to the cruise market.
The launch of the Newmarket Holidays website sees online bookings begin to flow immediately.
We create our first North American and long-haul escorted tour holidays.
The launch of our expanded range of escorted tours to the USA, Canada and India places Newmarket Holidays among the go-to companies for wish-list travel.
We forge closer ties with Cruise & Maritime Voyages and launch a year-round cruise programme. Our full range of holidays is available through travel agents for the first time.
Study Experiences are made Official Provider of Schools Travel to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Newmarket Holidays receives its first recognition at the British Travel Awards.
Newmarket Holidays is named Best Tour Operator to Italy at the 2012 British Travel Awards.
Newmarket celebrates its 30th Anniversary, and is awarded the Best Large Escorted Tours Operator BTA for the first time. Study Experiences is appointed to operate the Royal British Legion's Remembrance Travel for Schools and Young People programme of tours to the WWI battlefields.
We retain our title of Best Large Escorted Tours Operator at the 2014 BTAs.
The company moves from Worcester Park, its home for 32 years, to new offices at Cantium House in Wallington.
Continued successes at the BTAs include recognition as Best Tour Operator to Southern Asia, as a result of our hugely popular holidays to India.
64,000-tonne Columbus joins the CMV fleet shortly after her sister-ship Magellan returns from her Maiden World Cruise.
Newmarket marks 35 years since its foundation. Study Experiences is sold to educational travel specialists Next Generation Travel, enabling Newmarket to concentrate solely on its range of escorted tours and holidays. The company is named Best Large Escorted Tours Operator for the sixth successive year.
The Newmarket Holidays website is redesigned, and today offers you a vast range of escorted tours and resort-based stays, a huge choice of cruises from UK ports on traditional, British-operated ships, and an exciting programme of A-ROSA river cruises along Europe’s waterways.
Newmarket Holidays, like all tour operators has to pause all travel for several months due to a global pandemic. Our UK programme continues to operate as soon as restrictions eased.
International travel begins again at scale and customers are able to explore the world again with Newmarket Holidays
CEO Niel Alobaidi invests in Newmarket Holidays and becomes a fourth owner, alongside the current owners Simon Hibbs, Jeremy Griffin and Toni Frei.
Newmarket Holidays celebrates 40 years of escorted tour operating. The company branding is relaunched.
Newmarket Holidays announces that Soho Square Capital has chosen to invest in our award-winning escorted group touring business, alongside current owners Simon Hibbs, Jeremy Griffin, Toni Frei and Niel Alobaidi, who also serves as Chief Executive. Simon, Jeremy, Toni and Niel will remain as majority shareholders.