Scantours Inc

What Scantours Inc does

Scantours Inc is a privately-held US travel agency headquartered in Los Angeles, founded in 1967, that designs and sells customized tours, cruises, hotel reservations, and car rentals focused on Scandinavia, the Baltic states, Greenland, Iceland, and select polar destinations including the Arctic (Svalbard Spitsbergen) and Antarctica. The company serves individual and group leisure travelers seeking personalized, expert-led itineraries across 12+ countries, and it operates with a traditional agency model — toll-free phone, email, and a direct-to-consumer website — supported by social media presence on Facebook and X.

The product portfolio is organized into tour types (Escorted, Independent, Self Drive, Semi-escorted, Winter, Bicycle) and cruise categories (Norway Coastal/Hurtigruten, Arctic, Antarctica, Fjord, Gota Canal, Baltic, Mediterranean, Danube River, and broader River & Canal), complemented by a Hotels & Resorts booking service covering distinctive properties such as Danish Castles, Fjord Hotels, Historic Hotels of Norway, Swedish Countryside Hotels, and the Ice Hotel Sweden. Specialized packages include Northern Lights Tours, Svalbard expeditions, Adventure & Eco Travel, Rail Trips, and Spa Vacations (4–8 day wellness packages). No proprietary technology stack is disclosed; the company uses standard booking and reservation systems.

The business model is transaction-fee-based. Scantours charges a non-refundable $50 per-person quotation fee (credited toward booking), a $250–$500 per-person deposit to secure reservations, and a $25 per-person handling fee, with final payment due 60 days prior to departure and a 4% discount offered for cash or check purchases. The go-to-market is sales-led through travel consultants who finalize itineraries after customers submit reservation requests online or by phone. The company has 1–10 employees, no subsidiaries, no disclosed funding rounds, no M&A history, and no leadership or ownership changes in the available record.

Name

Scantours Inc

Legal name

Scantours Inc

Website

https://scantours.net

Company type

Private

Founded year

1967

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Scantours Inc is a US-based travel agency founded in 1967 that designs and sells customized tours, cruises, hotel bookings, and car rentals to Scandinavia, the Baltic states, and polar regions for individual and group travelers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Travel Agency Services — Scandinavia and Northern Europe tours and cruises

NAICS

Tour Operators (561520), Travel Agencies (561510)

akta.pro primary industry

Private/Customized Multi-Day Tour Operators (THAKADAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Bespoke Multi-Day Itinerary Planning & Custom Tour Design (THAJALAB), Adventure & Expedition Travel Agencies (THAKAFAB), Cruise & Land Tour (Cruisetour) Package Operators (THAKADAO)

Keywords

• Scandinavian tour packages
• Northern europe cruises
• Fjord travel services
• Arctic expedition cruises
• Northern lights tours

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Tour and Cruise Bookings: Scantours generates revenue through booking fees, deposits, and handling charges for tours and cruises. Customers pay a non-refundable $50 quotation fee, a deposit of $250-500 per person at booking, and a $25 handling fee per booking. Final payment is typically due 60 days prior to departure.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels3 records

Core offering

Scantours is a traditional travel agency that designs and sells customized escorted, independent, self-drive, semi-escorted, winter, and bicycle tours, along with cruises, hotel and resort bookings, and car rentals, focused on Scandinavia and Northern Europe. The company has operated since 1967 and arranges itineraries across Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, Denmark, Greenland, the Baltic Republics, Russia, Antarctica, and the Arctic. Reservations are processed through the company website, with final bookings handled by travel consultants via phone and email.

Product overview

Scantours is a travel agency offering a comprehensive portfolio of tour and cruise services to Northern Europe, Scandinavia, and surrounding regions. The company provides Escorted Tours, Independent Tours, Self Drive Tours, Semi-escorted Tours, Winter Tours, and Bicycle Tours as its primary tour product categories. For cruises, they offer Norway Coastal Voyage (Hurtigruten), Antarctica Cruises, Arctic Cruises, Fjord Cruises, Gota Canal Cruises, North Atlantic Islands cruises, Baltic Cruises, Mediterranean Cruises, Danube River Cruises, and River & Canal Cruises. Additionally, they provide Hotels & Resorts booking services covering properties across Scandinavia and the Baltics. The company specializes in creating customized itineraries and focuses on destinations including Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Greenland, Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Antarctica, and the Faroe Islands.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Escorted Tours
• Independent Tours
• Self Drive Tours
• Semi-escorted Tours
• Winter Tours
• Bicycle Tours
• Cruises
• Hotels & Resorts
• Northern Lights Tours
• Svalbard Spitsbergen Tours
• Spa Vacations

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators2 records

Recent moves2 records

Expansion highlights3 records

Direct peers

• Nordic Visitor: Specialized Iceland and Nordic region tour operator offering self-drive packages, escorted tours, and customized itineraries across Scandinavia. Direct competitor to Scantours in the customized Northern European independent travel niche.
• Adventure Life: Small-ship cruise and adventure travel company offering expedition cruises to Antarctica, Arctic, and European rivers alongside land tours. Comparable to Scantours on the cruise and small-group adventure portion of the portfolio.
• Discover Scandinavia: US-based Scandinavian tour operator offering escorted tours, independent itineraries, and cruises to Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Greenland. Direct peer in the customized Northern European travel agency category.
• 50 Degrees North: Scandinavia and Nordic specialist offering customized tours, cruises, and Northern Lights itineraries across Norway, Sweden, Finland, Iceland, and Greenland. Head-to-head competitor with very similar product mix and target customer to Scantours.
• Borton Overseas: Long-established US-based Scandinavian travel specialist (since 1895) offering customized independent and group tours to Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, Iceland, and the Baltics. Closest direct peer in terms of legacy, US base, and Scandinavian specialization.
• Quark Expeditions: Polar expedition cruise operator specializing in Antarctica and Arctic itineraries. Directly comparable on the expedition cruise side of Scantours' product portfolio, with growing direct-to-consumer sales threatening the agency layer.

Emerging players

• Odyssey Traveller: Australia-based small-group tour operator offering cultural and historical tours across Europe including Scandinavia, the Baltics, and Iceland. Overlaps with Scantours on escorted tour offerings, though focused on mature-aged travelers.

Broad incumbents

• Hurtigruten Group: Operates the Norwegian Coastal Voyage (a Scantours partner product) and a global fleet of expedition cruises to Antarctica, Svalbard, and the Arctic. Direct supplier to Scantours but also a competitor in the polar cruise category with strong direct-to-consumer capability.
• Trip.com Group: Global OTA and travel conglomerate owning Trip.com, Ctrip, Skyscanner, and CruiseDirect. Represents the scaled, tech-enabled incumbent whose AI-driven planning tools and direct supplier contracts pressure traditional agencies like Scantours.
• Expedia Group: Global OTA covering hotels, flights, packages, cruises, and activities across Scandinavia and the Baltics. Indirect competitor that owns the digital discovery layer that Scantours' agency model relies on routing around.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xtwitter.com/scantoursinc
• Facebookfacebook.com/scantoursinc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/scantours-inc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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

M&A

Investments

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

Frequently asked questions about Scantours Inc