Forward Travel

What Forward Travel does

Forward Travel, trading as Fairway International Travel Limited, is a UK-based travel management company specialising in professional sports travel. Founded in the early 1990s and operating for 30 years exclusively in professional golf under the Fairway brand before rebranding in April 2022, the company serves tournament organisers, athlete management agencies, professional athletes, and media and broadcasting teams across multiple sports. Its core proposition combines a tailorable online booking platform for flights, hotels, rail, car hire, and airport parking with high-touch human services including dedicated 24/7 client managers and on-site Travel Desks located inside the ropes at major tournaments. The platform features configurable role-based access, approval chains, travel policy controls, transparent pricing, consolidated invoicing, and an automated hotel room allocation module for tournament accommodations.

The business operates across three regional storefronts covering the UK (GBP), Ireland/EU (EUR), and US (USD) markets, with its headquarters in Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire. Revenue is generated through transaction fees and service charges on booked travel arrangements under a quote-based pricing model, with no publicly disclosed fee schedule. The go-to-market motion is sales-led and relationship-driven, anchored by long-tenured enterprise contracts with The European Tour Group (20+ years as official travel supplier), The Ladies European Tour (three-year partnership from 2022), European Tour Productions, Octagon (25+ years), and individual professional golfers, complemented by a self-serve online booking channel.

Strategic positioning is built on domain specialisation in tournament logistics, physical tournament presence, and relationship-based account management rather than technology differentiation. In 2025 the company raised approximately £1.32 million from HSBC UK and Arete Capital Partners and acquired Find a Golf Break, marking its first material extension into the consumer golf-breaks market and signalling a pivot toward broader vertical and channel expansion beyond its enterprise golf core.

Name

Forward Travel

Legal name

Fairway International Travel Limited

Website

https://forward-travel.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1992

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Forward Travel is a UK-based travel management company providing flight, hotel, rail, and ground travel booking services combined with on-site tournament Travel Desks for professional sports clients including the European Tour Group, athlete management agencies, and media organisations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sports Travel Management Services

NAICS

Travel Agencies (561510), Travel Agencies (56151)

SIC

Transportation Services (4700)

akta.pro primary industry

Sports Team, Tournament & Training Travel (THAKAGAI)

akta.pro secondary industries

Sports & Active Travel Agencies (e.g., ski, golf, dive) (THAKAFAJ), Sports Travel, Logistics & Team Operations Services (MPAKAKAI), Sports & Entertainment / VIP Corporate Travel Management (THAKACAG)

Keywords

• Sports travel management
• Corporate travel services
• Athlete travel logistics
• Tournament travel booking
• Professional sports travel

Headquarters

HQ city

Sowerby Bridge

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Travel Booking Services: The company acts as a travel management service, arranging flights, hotels, rail, car hire and other travel services for professional sports clients. Revenue appears to come from service fees, booking charges, and potentially markups on travel arrangements booked through their platform.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Forward Travel provides professional sports travel management services for athletes, tournament organisers, athlete management agencies, and media/broadcasting teams. The company offers a tailorable online booking platform covering flights, hotels, rail, car hire, and airport parking, complemented by an on-site Travel Desk at major tournaments and 24/7 dedicated client managers. Services span multi-person tournament logistics, last-minute change handling, consolidated billing, and travel policy compliance for professional sports clients.

Product overview

Forward Travel offers a sports travel management platform comprising an online booking engine and human-assisted services. The core offering includes a tailorable online booking platform for flights, hotels, rail, car hire and airport parking, complemented by an on-site Travel Desk at tournaments and personalized travel management. Supporting services include Flexible Billing with consolidated invoicing and reporting, and 24/7 Client Support. The platform serves tournament organisers, athlete management agencies, individual athletes, and media and broadcasting teams in professional sport.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Online Booking Platform (Digital Solutions) Tailorable online platform that allows professional sports clients to book flights, hotels, rail, car hire, and car parking with transparent pricing, integrated reporting and analytics, travel policy controls, user roles, approval chains, and streamlined invoicing. Includes automated hotel room allocation for tournament hotels.
• On-Site Travel Desk Physical on-site travel desk located inside the ropes at major sports tournaments, providing in-person support for last-minute travel changes, amendments, and queries. Backed by the UK team and dedicated to handling disruptions during events.
• Flexible Billing Bespoke billing options including monthly and bi-monthly consolidated invoices, streamlined invoice approval processing, pre-determined fields such as tournament codes and booker names, and monthly spend reports including CO2 emissions reporting.
• Personalised Travel Management Customized travel management delivered by a dedicated team with 30 years of professional sports travel experience, offering bespoke solutions for individual client circumstances and requirements rather than a one-size-fits-all approach.
• 24/7 Client Support Round-the-clock customer support available 7 days a week via telephone, mobile, and email, providing access to dedicated client managers before, during, and after tournaments.

Named customers6 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Five partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• The Ladies European TourcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2022Forward Travel announced a three-year partnership with The Ladies European Tour in 2022, extending their professional sports travel management services to women's professional golf alongside their existing work with The European Tour Group.
• The European Tour GroupcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerLong-standing official travel supplier to The European Tour Group for 20+ years, facilitating the European Tour Travel Desk and providing onsite support at many DP World Tour tournaments. Delivered solutions during challenging situations including the pandemic.
• European Tour ProductionscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrusted to manage all sports event travel on behalf of European Tour Productions' media and production teams that bring events to screens worldwide.
• Once in NashvilleminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreative agency enlisted to help with positioning and messaging during the Fairway to Forward rebrand.
• Playmaker StudiominorStrategic or Co-development PartnerCreative studio partnered with for naming and design work during the rebranding process.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Golfbreaks: UK-based golf travel specialist offering packaged and bespoke golf trips to consumers and corporate groups. Most direct peer in golf-specialist travel, competing for tournament-adjacent and leisure golf bookings in the same UK/EU geographies.
• Your Golf Travel: UK golf travel agency providing tournament packages, spectator trips and custom golf holidays. Closely comparable in customer segment (golf enthusiasts and corporate golf events) and geographic focus.
• AtPI (Avenue Two Travel, previously ATPI Griffinstone): Specialist sports and events travel division within AtPI, serving federations, teams and major sporting events globally. Directly comparable sports-focused TMC proposition with on-site event support.
• Sports Travel and Hospitality Group: US-based sports hospitality and travel provider serving major leagues, teams and corporate buyers. Comparable full-service sports travel offering focused on premium fan, athlete and corporate experiences.

Broad incumbents

• BCD Travel: Large global corporate travel management company with a sports and events practice. Comparable TMC technology stack and 24/7 support, but operates as a broad incumbent rather than a sports niche specialist.
• American Express Global Business Travel (Amex GBT): Global corporate TMC with meeting, events and sports advisory offerings. Larger-scale competitor with broader product portfolio and deeper supplier inventory, but less specialised in tournament athlete logistics.
• CWT (Carlson Wagonlit Travel): Major global corporate travel management company serving enterprise clients including sports organisations. Competes for the same tournament organiser and corporate accounts but at much greater scale.
• On Location Experiences: Premium experiential travel and hospitality provider for major sporting events including the Super Bowl, Olympics and golf majors. Comparable in serving high-end spectator and VIP tournament travel demand.

Regional players

• Travel Counsellors: UK-headquartered travel agency network with a corporate and sports practice. Comparable in UK presence and bespoke service model but not exclusively focused on professional sport.

Emerging players

• TripActions / Navan: Modern corporate travel and expense platform with corporate-card-linked booking. Increasingly competing for sports organisation TMC spend via self-serve tooling, though lacking on-site tournament presence.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/forwardtravelinternational

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A1 record

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Forward Travel