39: GOLDTRAIL HOLIDAYS

For centuries, Greeks and Turks have been seen as natural enemies. But Goldtrail founder and owner Kadir Aydin is showing that this need not be the case in 2009. His company has become the UK’s largest independent tour operator to Turkey – and now its tours are venturing into Greece. The opportunity arose when Greek specialist travel firm Kosmar went out of business. At one stage, Kosmar was selling 305,000 holidays per year and Aydin was quick to take advantage. Last year, Goldtrail had a turnover of £36.4m – huge growth from £8.3m back in 2005. Pre-tax profits were relatively modest at £459,300, but this was after Aydin had taken a dividend payment of £156,000. Goldtrail featured on our Hot 100 survey last year and, with Greece added to its portfolio of destinations, Goldtrail could very well be back again in 2010.

www.goldtrail.co.uk

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