A traveler get some hands-on education on a WorldStrides trip to Florida. (Photo courtesy of WorldStrides)
A Charlottesville company that sends students on trips around the world has traveled a few miles down Interstate 64.
WorldStrides, which sells educational trips to school groups, last week opened its first Richmond area office at Innsbrook. The branch will focus on sales, pushing packages from Worldstrides’ existing portfolio of trips, which range from three-day sprints to Chicago and Springfield, Ill., to weeklong stays in Washington and New York to longer voyages abroad.
“We’re taking something that has worked in some of our divisions and expanding on it,” said Mike Bucci, WorldStrides’ vice president of sales and head of the Richmond office.
The 9,468-square-foot location at Innsbrook’s Highwoods Commons will have about 25 full-time employees by mid-January, with room to expand to about 50 workers as need arises. Worldstrides moved into Richmond to expand its labor pool while staying close to its Charlottesville headquarters, company spokeswoman Julia Given said.
WorldStrides launched in 1964 as Lakeland Tours. The company is a sort of hybrid travel agency and school: It handles the logistics of each trip, including transportation, lodging and meals, and creates an onsite itinerary and educational programs. Bucci estimated that the company employs about 500 part-time educators and tour guides worldwide.
WorldStrides has grown through mergers and acquisitions over the past 15 years and has brought more than 10 travel firms into its fold since the late 1990s.
Most of the company’s sales come from schools, although WorldStrides also does business with families and other groups.
“The largest volume, I would say, comes from kids travelling all over the country to other places in the United States,” Bucci said. “On the high end, we actually run the study abroad programs for a vast majority of the top business schools in the country.”
A traveler get some hands-on education on a WorldStrides trip to Florida. (Photo courtesy of WorldStrides)
A Charlottesville company that sends students on trips around the world has traveled a few miles down Interstate 64.
WorldStrides, which sells educational trips to school groups, last week opened its first Richmond area office at Innsbrook. The branch will focus on sales, pushing packages from Worldstrides’ existing portfolio of trips, which range from three-day sprints to Chicago and Springfield, Ill., to weeklong stays in Washington and New York to longer voyages abroad.
“We’re taking something that has worked in some of our divisions and expanding on it,” said Mike Bucci, WorldStrides’ vice president of sales and head of the Richmond office.
The 9,468-square-foot location at Innsbrook’s Highwoods Commons will have about 25 full-time employees by mid-January, with room to expand to about 50 workers as need arises. Worldstrides moved into Richmond to expand its labor pool while staying close to its Charlottesville headquarters, company spokeswoman Julia Given said.
WorldStrides launched in 1964 as Lakeland Tours. The company is a sort of hybrid travel agency and school: It handles the logistics of each trip, including transportation, lodging and meals, and creates an onsite itinerary and educational programs. Bucci estimated that the company employs about 500 part-time educators and tour guides worldwide.
WorldStrides has grown through mergers and acquisitions over the past 15 years and has brought more than 10 travel firms into its fold since the late 1990s.
Most of the company’s sales come from schools, although WorldStrides also does business with families and other groups.
“The largest volume, I would say, comes from kids travelling all over the country to other places in the United States,” Bucci said. “On the high end, we actually run the study abroad programs for a vast majority of the top business schools in the country.”